THE  BIG  FELLOW 


FREDERICK   PALMER 


"  You'll   win,  Jim  ! 


THE  BIG  FELLOW 


BY 


FREDERICK  PALMER 

Author  of  "The   Vagabond,"   "The  Ways   of  the 
Service,"  "  With  Kuroki  in  Manchuria,"  etc. 


Illustrated  by 
M.  LEONE  BRACKER 


NEW  YORK 

MOFFAT,    YARD    AND    COMPANY 
1914. 


COPYRIGHT,  1908,  BY 
MOFFAT,  YARD  AND  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK 
All  Rights  Reserved 


Published,  September,  1908 

Second  Printing,  September,  1908 

Third  Printing,  October,  1908 

Fourth  Printing,  July,  1909 


THE    QUINN    &    BODEN    CO.    PRESS 
IIAHWAY,    N.    J. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    A  ROOM  IN  POVERTY  Row 1 

II.    ENTER  THE  HOME  FOLK 16 

III.  EPAMINANIDAD  AND  BETTY 28 

IV.  A  STRAIGHT-BACKED-CHAIR  OCCASION       ...  34 
V.    A  BUSINESS  CALL 41 

VI.  SPLINTERED  LIGHTNING  AND  FIREFLIES    ...  50 

VII.    KNOCKING  MR.  HOBBER  DOWN 57 

VIII.    Two  LITTLE  PRAYERS 67 

IX.    THAT  PLUS  SIGN 73 

X.    WITH  THE  MIXED  GANG 86 

XL    THE  LABORER'S  HIRE 95 

XII.     "YaDiviL,  YE!" 104 

XIII.  SOME  VARYING  VIEWS 124 

XIV.  FOR  A  CITY 131 

XV.  PLOWING,  PLOWING,  PLOWING          ....  142 

XVI.    EXIT  THE  Two  BRAIDS 159 

XVII.    A  SCHOOLGIRL'S  LETTERS 168 

XVIII.    THE  STRAIGHT  LINE'S  WAY 176 

XIX.    THE  OFFICE  SEEKS  THE  MAN 192 

XX.    WHEN  A  TELEGRAM  ARRIVED 201 

XXL    MADAME  MOTHER  DECIDES 209 

XXII.  COLONEL  WALKER  HARD  PRESSED    ,       ,       ,       ,227 

iii 


iv  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER 

XXIII.  A  BIG,  SIMPLE  MAN  IN  LOVE       .        .        .        .239 

XXIV.  DOUBLE  PAY  FOR  ABC's 260 

XXV.     Miss  DESTINY  MARCHES 270 

XXVI.    His  WELCOME  TO  BAR 281 

XXVII.    THE  SECOND  DISCIPLE 297 

XXVIII.  WANTED,  A  CHARMING  LADY        .        .        .        .320 

XXIX.  THE  THINKER  AND  THE  TRADER  .        .        .        .327 

XXX.    ELLEN  ARRIVES 338 

XXXI.  CLOTHING  THE  NAKED  WITH  ABC's             .        .    354 

XXXII.  Miss  Two  BRAIDS  REDIVIVUS       .        .        .        .363 

XXXIII.  ELLEN  WRITES  TO  THE  PERSONALITY  .        .    370 

XXXIV.  WHY  THE  BISHOP  WENT 380 

XXXV.    NEWS  FROM  TOLL 388 

XXXVI.    A  RECKONING 399 

XXXVII.  THE  PERSONALITY  TAKES  NOTICE        .        .        .413 

XXXVIII.    THE  FEVER  DEVIL 431 

XXXIX.    BIG'S  CAREER  AT  A  CRISIS 439 

XL.  WILLY  AS  A  TRAVELER         .        .        .        .        .447 

XLI.     THE  FIGHT 459 

XLII.    WITHOUT  KILLING 475 

XLIII.    HARVEST 488 

XLIV.    THE  HOME  LAND 496 

XLV.  BACK  TO  BOLTON  .                       ....    504 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

"  YOU'LL  WIN,  JIM  !  "         .        .        .        .        Frontispiece 

"I  WANT  TO  BORROW  TWO  HUNDRED  THOUSAND  DOLLARS 
PROM  YOU  " 


THE    LIGHTS    OF    THE    MACHINE    PLASHED  THROUGH    THE 

WINDOW  PANE          ......  25Q 

"I   MUST,"    HE     CRIED.      "MY    PLACE  IS  AT  TOLL.      I  AM 

RESPONSIBLE  FOR  TOLL  "  QQft 


TO   THE   READER 

LET  Miss  Destiny  carry  the  flag  wherever  she 
will,  or  claim  whatever  manner  of  servants  she 
will,  she  may  scarcely  exceed  the  wonder  of  her 
experiment  with  the  abc's  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Pacific.  A  new  kind  of  gift  was  borne  by  one 
people  to  another;  a  new  thing  was  brought  into 
being  in  an  old  world.  Already  those  who  were  in 
the  Islands  at  the  outset  of  this  enterprise  see  its 
scenes,  still  fresh  in  mind,  as  a  page  of  romantic 
history  that  can  never  be  repeated. 

If  anyone  thinks  that  he  can  name  the  village 
from  which  the  Big  Fellow  of  my  novel  came 
and  the  city  in  which  he  began  his  career, 
I  shall  only  say  that  they  are  somewhere  be 
tween  the  Alleghenies  and  the  Mississippi;  and 
if  anyone  thinks  that  he  recognizes  the  original 
of  Bar,  I  shall  only  say  that  it  is  one  of  the 
archipelago  to  the  east  of  Borneo  and  the  south  of 
China. 

"  Did  such  things  as  you  describe  really  occur 
out  there?  "  demanded  a  reader  of  the  manuscript. 

I  took  this  question  to  former  Sergeant  Smith, 
of  Company  B,  who,  after  he  left  the  regulars,  had 
a  broadening  experience  as  an  Inspector  of  Con 
stabulary. 

vii 


viii  TO  THE  READER 

' '  In  which  island  did  they  happen  to  you?  "  was 
his  answer. 

"  Surely  there  wasn't  such  a  man  as  General 
Prairie  Fire?  "  the  reader  asked. 

Army  friends  who  were  familiar  only  with  the 
brigade  commanders  under  whom  they  served,  are 
sure  that  they  identify  him. 

"  Honest,  now,  which  one  of  that  lot  did  you 
draw  him  from?  ' '  Smith  inquired.  So  it  was  with 
Parkowitz,  Cortina,  and  Don  Francisco  of  Toll. 

16  But  the  Big  Fellow — I  do  know  who  he  is!  " 
persisted  the  reader. 

Decidedly  you  do  not,  good  sir.  You  are  quite 
astray  if  you  associate  this  type,  expressive  of  his 
country's  characteristics  in  a  new  field,  with  any 
individual.  It  was  out  of  the  native  mind  that  I 
christened  him.  Small  of  stature  themselves  and 
quickly  impressed  by  externals,  our  brown  cousins 
saw  in  us  a  race  of  giants.  Again  I  tried  Smith. 

"  You've  rolled  a  number  of  Governors  into 
one,"  said  he. 

The  men  who  did  their  work  well  in  the  Islands 
were  men  well  grounded  in  law  and  civil  rights; 
men  of  smiling,  big,  generous  manner  and  an  over 
flowing  stock  of  patience,  who  had  the  gift  of  win 
ning  the  trust  of  a  people  grown  suspicious 
through  generations  of  oppression.  Many  days 
have  I  spent  in  their  company.  Often  have  I 
talked  with  them  of  their  careers  at  home  that  pre 
pared  them  for  careers  abroad,  where  sometimes 
they  had  to  be  serious  in  most  humorous  situa 
tions.  Out  of  my  appreciation  of  the  service  they 


TO  THE  READER  ix 

have  done  has  risen  this  token  of  affection  and 
esteem. 

"  And  did  those  children  actually  come  to  school 
naked?  "  concluded  the  reader. 

i  l  You  bet  they  did !  ' '  to  use  the  good  American 
language  of  Smith. 

:This  brings  us  to  the  Charming  Lady  who 
taught  the  abc's  at  Bowang.  She  supplies  what 
the  publishers  call  the  love  theme,  I  believe.  In 
her  case  I  am  ticklishly  near  reproducing  the 
original,  which  makes  me  all  the  happier  to  hide 
the  identity  of  my  island  under  the  name  of  Bar. 
For  she  was  most  embarrassed  and  so  were  all 
present,  except  the  pupils. 

Finally,  one  who  has  a  story  to  tell  of  home  and 
of  Bar  in  those  days  need  ask  himself  only  if  its 
spirit  and  any  lesson  it  offers  are  true.  His  char 
acters  must  be  born  of  the  people  he  knew  or  they 
are  unreal,  and  yet  they  must  avoid  the  detail  of 
any  single  living  experience  or  he  would  be  a 
biographer. 

FREDERICK  PALMER. 

NEW  YORK,  June  2,  1908. 


THE  BIG  FELLOW 

BOOK   I 
I 

A  ROOM  IN  POVEETY  BOW 

"^C  T"OU  will  know  him  at  a  glance  and  if  you 
jf     gain  any  influence  over  him  do  try  to  per 
suade  him  to  stop  it,  or  he  will  be  a  dis 
grace  to  the  family, ' '  Madame  Mother  had  written 
to  one  of  the  professors  who  had  been  his  father's 
classmate. 

Through  his  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  years, 
in  outward  calm  and  inward  shame,  he  went  on 
adding  height.  In  his  nineteenth  year  he  did  slow 
down ;  but  such  a  prestige  he  had  for  growing  that 
no  one  dared  say  whether  six  feet  two  inches 
marked  a  recess  or  a  finality.  When  conviction 
drove  skepticism  out  of  his  own  mind,  he  gave 
what  he  called  a  Stop  Party  in  his  room  in 
Poverty  Eow  which  his  personality  had  made 
cosmopolitan.  A  copy  of  that  invitation — 

"  Glory  Be! 

It  Isn't  to  be  a  Habit! 

Congratulations  from  Four  to  Six, 

Tuesday  Afternoon!  " 


2  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

is  a  precious  relic  among  the  few  men  who  have 
family  garrets  in  which  to  stow  mementoes.  At 
the  same  time,  he  wrote  the  news  to  Madame 
Mother  and  also  to  Ellen  Moore — as  if  a  two-braid 
girl  would  care! 

By  no  choice  of  his  own,  James  Harden  was  as 
conspicuous  on  the  first  day  he  walked  across  the 
campus  as  the  one  bearded  freshman  of  thirty. 
Something  in  his  pervasive  geniality  made  it 
natural  to  call  him  the  Big  Fellow,  which  became 
a  name  of  destiny  to  follow  him :  as  much  a  her 
itage  as  Jim  for  James.  The  class  made  him  presi 
dent  because,  as  Willy  Sweetser  said,  it  did  not 
look  right  to  put  such  a  commanding  individual 
anywhere  except  at  the  head  of  the  procession. 
But  this  was  only  an  honor — which  he  received 
in  laughing  surprise — while  that  Stop  Party  was 
really  the  first  memorable  milestone  in  his  life. 
With  graduation  he  was  at  his  second. 

The  things  that  had  made  his  room  cheerful 
were  partly  in  his  trunk  and  mostly  out  of  it  in 
confusion  on  the  floor.  He  paused  over  each  article 
as  if  holding  it  in  his  hand  a  while  softened  the 
misery  of  putting  it  away.  Everybody  of  '88 — 
now  to  be  scattered  from  the  democracy  of  student 
lives  into  the  autocracy  of  the  world — had  already 
said  good-by  repeatedly  to  him ;  but  the  ones  whose 
trunks  were  on  the  way  to  the  station,  or  at  least 
strapped,  and  who  had  an  idle  hour  before  train 
time,  drifted  toward  the  quarters  of  the  poorer 
students  in  Charlotte  Square  and  up  the  worn 
marble  steps  of  the  old  red  brick  house,  No.  22 


A  ROOM  IN  POVERTY  ROW  3 

West,  to  the  third  story  front.    They  wanted  to 
see  how  the  Big  Fellow  got  on  with  his  packing. 

"  Slowly  but  thoroughly,"  he  said,  in  answer 
to  every  inquiry  and  always  in  laughing  good 
humor.  "  It  hurts,  doesn't  it?  "  he  added,  paus 
ing.  "  I  feel  every  root  coming  out  and  they're 
good-sized  roots  with  me. ' ' 

His  big  reading-chair,  fit  for  a  giant,  the  one 
article  of  furniture  which  was  his  own,  he  had 
crated  to  take  home.  Where  his  books  had  been 
piled  over  the  mantle  and  on  a  board  laid  across 
the  top  of  an  ancient-of-days  desk — of  the  order 
that  belonged  to  the  landlady's  family  when  it  was 
in  better  circumstances — the  removal  revealed  the 
fact  that  the  wall  paper  had  once  been  pink  in 
color  and  in  design  as  French  as  the  Empire  piano 
seat,  its  tapestry  long  since  given  way  to  horse 
hair,  on  which  he  had  been  wont  to  sit  rigidly  at 
his  work. 

"  It's  not  soap  and  it's  not  catsup,  I  hasten  to 
say, ' '  he  continued,  with  a  nod  toward  two  wooden 
boxes  which  he  had  from  the  corner  grocery. 
"  No.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  put  them  under  false 
colors.  Abraham  Lincoln  and  his  guild  are  in  the 
soap  box  and  Blackstone  and  the  others  in  the  cat 
sup  box  " — the  others  being  histories  of  law  and 
civilization.  ' '  If  you  don't  find  it  in  Lincoln,  who 
always  seems  much  handier  and  easier,  you'll  find 
it  in  Blackstone.  There's  one  thing  both  are  silent 
on,  I've  found — packing;  while  Kent's  Com 
mentaries  are  a  little  shy  on  how  a  young  man  is  to 
earn  a  living  with  no  capital  except  a  sheepskin." 


v. 

• 

4  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

He  wiped  a  bead  off  his  brow,  took  a  paper 
weight  off  a  pile  of  photographs  and  clothes  and 
books  that  would  not  go  into  the  boxes,  and  slipped 
it  into  a  boxing-glove.  Then  he  wrapped  a  photo 
graph  .of  Aunt  Julia  in  an  enormous  sweater. 

' '  I'll  get  them  in,  all  right/'  he  said.  "  Now 
look  at  that!  I  ask  if  a  man  with  an  undershirt 
of  that  size  isn't  entitled  to  some  sympathy?  ' 

He  held  up  a  generous  expanse  of  wool  so  that 
all  might  see,  and  rolled  it  into  a  wad  which, 
piston-like,  his  muscular  arm  rammed  between  a 
pair  of  shoes  and  "  The  Federalist  "  in  one 
volume. 

"  Big,  what  are  you  going  to  do  this  summer?  " 
asked  one  of  the  five  or  six  men  in  the  room,  dis 
tributed  on  the  bed,  the  window  sills,  and  the 
boxes. 

The  Big  Fellow  dropped  a  pair  of  drawers  and 
turned  about  quickly. 

"  That  reminds  me  that  I've  been  so  concen 
trated  on  my  job  of  packing,"  he  said,  "  I  forgot 
to  tell  you  my  good  news.  You  know,  I  never 
could  have  got  through  college  if  it  hadn't  been 
for  outside  work.  Well,  this  morning  Colonel 
Walker  was  asking  me  the  same  question  you  have 
been  asking,  and  I  told  him  I  was  out  to  get  a  job 
of  any  kind  and  pay  my  way  to  study  law — just  as 
I  tell  everybody — never  thinking  of  offering  my 
self  to  him;  and  Glory  be!  if  he  didn't  say  he'd 
give  me  something  in  some  of  his  interests,  and 
I'm  going  to  the  city  to-morrow  on  my  way  home 
to  be  assigned  to  some  work  or  other  by  one  of 


A  ROOM  IN  POVERTY  ROW  5 

his  managers.  But  he  says  I'll  have  to  get  law 
out  of  my  head.  '  You  can  hire  lawyers,'  he 
said." 

After  everybody  had  congratulated  him  and 
told  him  how  lucky  he  was,  Eamsdell  asked  from 
the  window  sill,  with  a  strange  inflection: 

"  Did  Ned  speak  for  you?  " 

' t  No,  not  that  I  know  of, ' '  Big  answered. 

Ned  was  the  Colonel's  son,  also  of  '88,  and  the 
champion  college  heavyweight.  He  was  never 
seen  in  Charlotte  Square,  No.  22  West,  third 
floor  front. 

"  I  don't  know  of  anything  better  for  a  '  grad  ' 
to  fall  into  than  Colonel  Walker's  good  favor," 
Eamsdell  added. 

'  '  It  gave  me  a  new  idea  of  him,  considering  that 
my  father  once  pretty  near  put  him  in  jail.  He 
said:  '  If  you're  made  of  the  stuff  the  old  block 
was,  I  want  you. '  ' ' 

"  You  weren't  meant  for  business."  It  was 
Eamsdell  again. 

"  I  reckon,  though,  I'd  stick  to  business — if  I 
had  a  chance.  Money's  a  great  thing  when  you 
need  it  the  way  the  Harden  family  does.  Madame 
Mother  and  Aunt  Julia  ought  to  have  more  com 
forts.  Two  Braids  must  have  an  education,  and 
when  a  man  gets  a  chance  and  it's  his  duty,  he 
ought " 

A  knock  interrupted  him.  The  Big  Fellow  sang 
out  to  come  in,  in  a  voice  loud  enough  to  be  heard 
in  the  lower  hall,  a  voice  as  thunderously  out  of 
keeping  in  welcoming  the  little  woman  who  opened 


6  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

the  stained,  varnish-cracked  door  as  a  whirlwind 
sent  for  a  leaf. 

' t  Is  there  anything  I  can  do  to  help  you,  Mister 
Big  Fellow?  "  Mrs.  Billings,  the  landlady,  asked. 

She  had  not  come  for  that  purpose  at  all.  It  was 
the  excuse  for  the  same  errand  that  had  brought 
the  others.  She  wanted  to  say  another  farewell 
and  hear  the  Big  Fellow's  laugh,  but  the  sudden 
sight  of  the  dismantled  room  gave  her  a  shiver. 
With  customary  foresight  she  took  her  handker 
chief  out  of  her  belt  bag  at  once,  to  be  prepared  for 
the  worst. 

' '  I  didn  't  know  I  'd  feel  it  so, ' '  she  said.  "  It  'a 
been  four  years,  Mister  Big  Fellow — I've  called 
you  that  from  the  first  day,  haven't  I! — and  I'll 
miss  you  so !  How  I  did  scold  you  for  burning 
so  much  oil  when  you  first  came,  didn't  I?  And 
how  I  was  afraid  you'd  shake  the  house  down 
when  you  went  up  and  down  nights !  ' ' 

"  Toothache,  Big?  "  one  of  them  asked. 

The  Big  Fellow  laughed. 

"  Toothache!  "  quoth  Mrs.  Billings,  in  high- 
pitched  sarcasm.  "  No.  He's  always  doing  it  " — 
a  habit  which  was  new  to  them.  "  Not  toothache! 
Blackstone  and  Abraham,  so  far  as  I  could  ever 
make  out.  And  I've  got  so  used  to  your  walk 
on  the  stairs!  "  By  this  time  Mrs.  Billings 
was  incoherent  and  using  her  handkerchief 
freely.  "  Oh,  I  know  all  their  walks.  Some 
go  falling  down  and  some  thumping  on  their 
heels  and  some  that  come  home  late  at 
night,  I'm  sorry  to  say,  take  two  or  three  steps  on 


A  ROOM  IN  POVERTY  ROW  7 

one  stair,  kind  of  uncertain,  as  if  they  were  afraid 
it  was  sliding  out  from  under,  and  then  hang  onto 
the  banisters,  I  guess.  And  you're  the  only  one 
I  ever  had  that  didn't  take  two  steps  at  a 
time.  You  don't  run  either  up  or  down,  Mister 
Big  Fellow.  You  just  go  plowing  on,  taking 
every  stair,  and  quick,  too!  I'll  miss  that  regular 
squeak  and  your  '  Hello!  '  for  coffee,  that's  loud 
as  the  chapel  bell,  and  coming  down  yourself  half 
way  to  get  it.  You're  so  big  and  simple  I'm  afraid 
for  you  when  you  get  out  in  the  hard,  cold  world." 

This  was  too  much  for  even  senior  gravity. 
Mrs.  Billings  thought  that  the  series  of  mirthful 
explosions  were  directed  at  her.  She  let  her  hand 
kerchief  fall  and  looked  through  her  tears,  hurt 
and  shamed  to  be  caught  in  a  lodger's  room  in 
such  an  unbusinesslike,  not  to  say  unbecoming, 
outburst. 

"It's  myself  on  whom  these  ruffians  are  venting 
their  buffoonery,"  said  the  Big  Fellow,  rising  to 
the  occasion.  "  They  see  how  good  you  are  in 
order  to  see  so  much  good  in  another  ruffian.  I'd 
like  to  stay  here  as  a  student  forever,  were  such 
glorious  folly  in  keeping  with  the  temper  of  the 
times,  when  every  man  ought  to  be  at  work.  Bet 
ter  men  will  come  to  take  my  place.  Whether  they 
fall  downstairs  or  slide  upstairs,  they'll  all  love 
you.  Be  joyful  over  the  friends  that  will  never 
forget  you.  Here's  to  Mrs.  Billings!  Drive  dull 
sorrow  away!  Here  we  go  'round  the  mulberry 
bush!  " 

She  found  her  right  hand  in  the  Big  Fellow's 


8  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

and  her  left  hand  in  Kamsdell's,  as  they  circled 
the  trunk,  dodging  between  the  boxes  containing 
Abraham  and  Blackstone,  tripping  on  the  Big  Fel 
low's  nether  garment,  the  little  lady  half  laughing 
and  half  crying,  till  her  breathlessness  brought 
them  to  a  standstill. 

* i  Mrs.  Billings,  I  salute  you.  You  are  the  queen 
of  hostesses." 

The  Big  Fellow,  with  a  deep  bow,  took  her  chin 
in  his  hands  and  most  deliberately  planted  a  kiss 
on  her  forehead.  A  blush  crept  up  from  the  faded 
old  cheeks,  suffusing  the  pathway  of  her  tears. 

11  For  shame!  "  she  cried;  and  in  her  hasty 
withdrawal  from  an  experience  which  would  be 
one  of  her  most  treasured  memories  as  she  listened 
in  her  basement  room  for  the  different  manner  of 
squeaks  till  every  lodger  was  abed,  she  nearly  ran 
into  Willy  Sweetser  entering — Willy,  with  his  sil 
ver-headed  cane  and  eyes  popping  with  deviltry 
and  the  inevitable  cigarette  between  his  fingers. 
The  Big  Fellow  called  him  "  House  Afire. " 

Nobody  knew  just  how  he  had  ever  secured  his 
diploma,  unless  by  natural  wit,  inveterate  curiosity, 
and  absorption.  He  had  done  no  studying  to  any 
one's  knowledge,  yet  he  was  remarkably  ready  in 
a  certain  characteristic  way  at  recitations.  In 
making  mischief  he  became  a  post-graduate  in  his 
freshman  year.  It  was  always  difficult — for  him 
self,  perhaps,  as  well  as  for  others — to  tell  whether 
he  was  joking  or  not. 

1  i  Say,  Big,  Ned  Walker  never  did  seem  to  like 
you,"  he  remarked,  with  his  eyes  inverted  as  he 


A  ROOM  IN  POVERTY  ROW  9 

put  a  match  to  a  fresh  cigarette.    "  What  do  you 

think  he  said  about  you  to-day?    Why,  he 

And  Willy,  unable  to  resist  the  sensation,  had  told 
that  which  he  had  not  meant  to  tell. 

The  Big  Fellow  laughed.  It  was  a  short,  hearty, 
infectious  laugh,  freely  given  from  his  deep  lungs, 
no  different  than  they  had  heard  a  thousand  times. 
Eamsdell  called  it  a  "  sawing  wood  "  laugh.  He 
would  give  it  in  idle  welcome  and  give  it  when  he 
was  interrupted  at  any  task,  and  then  without  a 
word  go  on  with  his  work.  Now  he  dropped  that 
nether  garment  half  folded  on  the  trunk  and  inter 
rogated  Willy. 

11  He  said  that,  did  he?" 

It  was  a  thing  which  went  back  to  his  father,  a 
thing,  knowingly  worded,  which  ate  into  Big  like 
acid. 

"  Yes,"  assented  Willy,  somewhat  hesitantly. 
The  figure  towering  over  him  was  Cyclopean  and 
ominous.  Suddenly  he  was  struck  with  the  dis 
concerting  idea  that  it  might  be  loaded  with 
dynamite.  "  But  look  here,  Big,  I  shouldn't  have 
repeated  that.  Forget  it!"  Willy  was  worried. 
It  looked  to  him  as  if  Big  were  getting  mad  and  it 
had  never  occurred  to  him  before  that  this  was 
possible. 

"  Yes,  but  you  did  repeat  it  and  you  do  not  deny 
that  he  said  it.  I'll  stop  packing  and  go  to  see 
him." 

The  Big  Fellow  took  his  coat  off  the  bedpost 
where  it  was  hanging  and  drew  it  on. 

Willy  was  aghast  between  curiosity  and  nervous 


10  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

dread,  for  he  was  fonder  of  Big  than  of  anyone 
else  at  college  and  Big  had  often  been  his  cham 
pion  when  he  was  in  trouble. 

"  You'll  not  have  to  go  far!  "  said  Kamsdell. 
"  Ned  Walker's  coming  along  the  street  now.'7 

"  I'll  get  back  on  the  job  all  the  sooner,"  was 
the  giant's  smiling  answer. 

Without  waiting  for  his  hat  he  started  for  the 
door. 

"  You  aren't  going  to  do  anything  serious,  are 
you,  Big?  "  asked  Eamsdell. 

Big's  retreating  back  along  the  hall  indicated  no 
consciousness  of  having  heard  the  question. 

"  Did  you  look  at  his  eyes  1  "  exclaimed  Willy, 
almost  tragically.  "  They  weren't  laughing. 
They  glittered  like  a  bayonet  on  a  frosty 
morning. ' ' 

' '  His  eyes  never  do  laugh — only  the  rest  of  his 
face  and  his  lungs,"  Eamsdell  told  him.  "  You'd 
known  that  before  if  you  were  half  as  observing  as 
you  are  meddlesome.  But  I  confess  I  never  saw 
them  steely  like  that,  myself.  We'd  better  go 
along. ' ' 

Squeak,  squeak  the  old  stairs  groaned  as  the 
Big  Fellow  descended,  with  steady,  rapid  stride. 
Until  he  reached  the  door  he  was  unconscious  that 
he  was  followed.  When  he  looked  around  and 
saw  no  less  than  seven  retainers,  he  said : 

"  Make  yourselves  at  home.  I'll  run  out  to  see 
Ned  alone,  if  you  please.  I  don't  want  to  leave 
the  old  Alma  with  any  misunderstanding  with 
anybody  of  the  class  of  '88." 


rA  ROOM  IN  POVERTY  ROW  11 

"  But  look  here,  Big,"  groaned  Willy,  who  felt 
responsible,  "  you  aren't  going  to " 

"I'm  going  out  alone  and  I  hope  to  make  a 
friend. ' ' 

"  Of  course  he's  not  going  to "  Eamsdell 

drew  Willy  back  into  the  doorway.  For  his  part, 
Eamsdell  was  quite  reassured  on  this  score. 
"  You  know  Big  as  well  as  I  do.  He's  going  to 
clear  up  any  differences  in  his, characteristic  way. 
A  good  thing,  too,  considering  that  he's  to 
work  for  Ned's  father  and  he  and  Ned  have  never 
hit  it  off  together." 

"  Walker's  pretty  near  as  tall  as  Big,"  mused 
Willy,  as  he  watched  the  Big  Fellow  turn  in  the 
direction  from  which  Walker  was  coming  not 
twenty  yards  away.  "  I  am  all  interest.  You 
can't  tell  what  might  happen!  " 

Willy,  who  had  had  the  remark  first-hand  from 
Ned,  could  not  get  away  from  a  certain  idea  since 
he  had  seen  that  look  in  the  Big  Fellow's  eye.  The 
two  men  met  just  in  front  of  the  canna  bed  of  No. 
24,  next  door,  which  in  flagging,  grass  plot,  and  its 
old  wr ought-iron  fence  was  the  same  as  No.  22, 
except  that  Mrs.  Billings  favored  geraniums,  in 
which  she  saw  a  distinction  and  a  difference  for 
No.  22,  never  being  able  to  understand  how  any 
body  could  make  a  mistake  between  the  two  places, 
particularly  in  summer  time. 

"Hello,  Ned!  " 

"  Howdy  do,  Harden." 

"  Ned,  Willy  Sweetser's  been  tale-bearing 
again,"  the  Big  Fellow  began,  good-naturedly. 


12  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

*  *  He  told  me  something  that  you  said  which  made 
me  come  right  to  you  to  see  if  we  can  straighten  it 
out ;  and  if  you  do  feel  that  way,  I  would  like  to 
know  why  " — and  he  repeated  Willy's  report. 

His  Jove-like  open  manner  and  his  seeming 
confidence  that  a  friendly  talk  would  settle  any 
thing  irritated  Walker  uncontrollably.  Though 
Ned's  father  was  small,  the  son  had  inherited  his 
mother's  physique. 

"  Yes,  I  did,"  he  answered  hotly,  "  and  I  say  it 
again,  and  so  was  your  father  before  you." 

Eamsdell  and  the  others  in  the  doorway  saw  the 
Big  Fellow's  arm  shoot  out  and  Walker  would 
have  gone  to  the  ground  if  he  had  not  caught  hold 
of  the  fence,  on  which  he  leaned  for  a  dizzy  in~ 
terval.  Big  stepped  back,  abashed  by  his  own  act, 
confused  in  everything  except  that  he  might  have 
to  defend  himself. 

"  Gee!  Big  looks  like  a  Pillar  of  Hercules 
and  Ned's  always  in  training!  "  gasped  Willy 
Sweetser. 

"  You  said  my  father!  "  Big  declared,  taking  a 
deep  breath. 

"  Yes.  I  ought  not  to  have  included  him.  I 
retract  that,"  Walker  returned,  as  he  recovered 
himself  and  stood  solidly  on  his  feet  again,  ready 
and  defiant,  yet  not  taking  the  aggressive. 

The  Big  Fellow  offered  his  hand. 

"  But  I  don't  take  back  what  I  said  about  you,'* 
Walker  added,  as  he  refused  it. 

"  I'm  sorry.  Do  you  care  to  give  me  any 
reason,  Ned!"  the  Big  Fellow  asked,  almost 


A  ROOM  IN  POVERTY  ROW  13 

anxiously.  "  Leaving  my  father  out  makes  it 
different,  anyway.  Time  will  prove  whether  you 
are  right  about  me." 

After  a  second 's  silence  Walker  said  "  No," 
and  passed  on,  resuming  his  walk. 

"  Good-afternoon,  Ned!  "  the  Big  Fellow  called 
after  him. 

"  Good-afternoon,  Harden,"  Walker  responded. 

The  waiting  group  on  the  steps  was  equally  puz 
zled  by  Walker's  failure  to  strike  back  and  by  the 
Big  Fellow's  seeming  dejection  as  he  returned. 
He  put  one  hand  on  Bamsdell's  and  the  other  on 
Sweetser's  shoulder  appealingly. 

"  Trembling  like  a  leaf !  "  exclaimed  Willy,  who 
had  made  a  discovery.  * '  Why — Big  has  nerves !  ' ' 
Willy,  you  see,  was  a  natural  publicist,  who  had  to 
tell  anything  he  saw  or  heard. 

' '  I  had  to  do  it  when  he  mentioned  my  father.  I 
was  mad,"  said  the  Big  Fellow;  and  this  seemed 
all  he  had  to  say,  for,  without  another  word,  he 
went  past  them  and  on  up  the  stairs,  the  presence 
of  his  friends  seemingly  forgotten. 

Were  they  to  follow  him,  as  so  many  street  boys 
follow  the  winner  of  an  alley  fisticuffs?  They 
stood  watching  his  ascent,  and  he  settled  their 
doubts  when  he  turned  on  the  first  landing  and 
asked  if  they  weren't  coming. 

Willy  Sweetser  was  for  doing  two  steps  at  a 
time.  His  curiosity  was  not  half  satisfied.  The 
others  evidently  thought  it  was  time  for  de 
parture,  and  Willy  decided  not  to  go  alone. 

"  Big,  your  quarrel  won't  make  any  difference 


14  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

with  the  Colonel/7  Eamsdell  called.  "  He  never 
lets  sentiment  interfere  with  business.  If  he 
wants  to  take  you  on  he'll  take  you." 

"  Oh,  to  the  devil  with  that  job !  "  answered  the 
Big  Fellow,  and  the  second  flight  began  groaning 
under  his  weight.  "I'm  going  to  stick  to  Abra 
ham  and  Blackstone." 

"He's  so  cut  up,"  complained  Willy,  "  that  he 
will  not  even  say  good-by"— in  which  Willy  was 
mistaken;  for  after  they  were  out  in  the  street 
they  heard  a  window  raised  and  then  that  well- 
known,  pleasant,  even  voice : 

'  '  Good-by !  Good  luck !  ' '  hallooed  the  Big  Fel 
low,  with  his  head  out  of  the  lower  sash  frame. 
"  Have  a  good  time  in  Europe,  Eamsdell.  Ee- 
member  we're  all  to  write.  Buck  the  line  hard! 
'88  's  going  to  be  a  power  for  good  in  the  world  !  ' ' 

When  he  looked  back  into  the  room  he  was  re 
minded  by  the  sight  of  the  soap  and  catsup  boxes 
that  rushing  into  a  public  street  and  knocking  a 
man  down  in  a  burst  of  temper,  was  not  quite  in 
keeping  with  the  books  inside  them  or  with  the 
character  of  a  man  whose  ambition  was  to  know 
and  interpret  the  law. 

"  Madame  Mother,  you  are  scolding  me,"  he 
said  to  one  of  the  two  portraits  still  resting  on  his 
desk.  They  were  to  be  the  last  things  to  go  into  a 
safe  place  in  the  top  tray.  "  I  believe  you  are 
pointing  a  finger,  too,  Miss  Two  Braids.  But  I 
had  to  do  it." 

As  he  was  not  going  to  the  city  now,  there  was 
ample  time  for  packing  before  he  took  the  morn- 


A  ROOM  IN  POVERTY  ROW  15 

ing  train.  Sitting  on  the  ancient  piano  stool 
among  the  ruins  of  his  old  room,  he  went  over 
again  the  manuscript  on  the  Colonial  Admin 
istration  of  the  Romans  which  he  was  writ 
ing  for  a  prize  for  a  law  review.  A  little  note  to 
Colonel  Walker,  thanking  him  and  stating  that  he 
had  changed  his  mind,  then  a  long  letter  to  his 
mother,  telling  about  the  disgraceful  thing  he  had 
to  do — it  was  easier  to  write  this  than  to  tell  it — 
and  a  note  about  it  to  Miss  Two  Braids,  who  in 
his  own  mind,  at  least,  held  him  to  a  sort  of  ac 
countability,  then  back  to  the  essay ! 

Well  into  the  morning,  with  his  back  so  stiff 
that  any  part  of  it  would  have  touched  a  vertical 
line — a  pillar  of  healthy  youth — tracing  a  small, 
copperplate  hand  that  seemed  a  calculated  insult 
to  the  size  of  the  fist  that  drove  the  pen,  he  burnt 
Mrs.  Billings 's  oil  in  a  final  spree  before  tackling 
the  world. 


II 

ENTEK   THE   HOME   FOLK 

IN  fact,  the  oil  ran  out  and  he  had  to  stumble 
over  the  soap  and  the  catsup  boxes  to  bed  in 
the  darkness.  When  he  awoke  he  thundered 
for  coffee,  and  recalling  that  he  had  not  finished 
certain  corrections  in  his  manuscript,  became  so 
absorbed  that  he  was  unconscious  of  the  need  of 
breakfast  till  Mrs.  Billings  stood  at  his  elbow 
with  the  tray. 

"  Oh!  Just  food — as  if  food  was  of  any  im 
portance,  good  lady,  when  a  man  is  busy  with  a 
magnum  opus!  "  he  told  her,  oracularly.  "  I  had 
a  beautiful  time  last  night.  I  rewrote  two  whole 
pages  twice  and  then  cut  them  out  altogether,  and 
you  can't  guess  what  an  improvement  this  made. 
But  there 's  an  end  of  it !  ' : 

He  slipped  the  manuscript  into  an  addressed 
envelope,  which  he  sealed  and  laid  on  the  top  of 
the  desk  beside  the  photograph  of  Miss  Two 
Braids,  where  he  would  be  sure  to  see  it  when  he 
came  to  go.  Then  he  moved  the  ink  well  to  make 
room  for  the  tray. 

"  If  it's  magnum  opus  that  makes  you  lose 
sleep,  I  do  hope  you'll  get  better  now  it's  off  your 
mind,"  Mrs.  Billings  affirmed,  dryly. 

16 


ENTER  THE  HOME  FOLK  17 

"  Consider  winning  a  prize  of  one  hundred  dol 
lars  in  A.D.  1888  with  an  essay  on  Eoman  Colonial 
Administration  by  jumping  the  subject  and  show 
ing  how  we  should  set  about  civilizing  a  new  coun 
try  to-day!  Consider  what  the  poor  Romans 
have  suffered  from  writers  for  two  thousand 
years!  Incidentally,  consider  that  I  haven't  won 
that  prize  yet!  "  he  continued,  his  mind  still 
dwelling  on  his  masterpiece  as  he  cut  an  egg  in 
two  and  proceeded  to  make  two  mouthfuls  of  it. 
"  If  I  do  win  it  I'll  give  you  five  dollars  toward 
the  oil," 

"  Nothing  of  the  kind,  you  silly  fellow!  And 
do  you  know  what  the  hour  is?  " 

"  No.  Wh-h-at!  "  came  through  a  munch  of 
toast,  in  the  surprise  of  his  recollection  that  there 
was  such  a  thing  as  time. 

"  Eight,  and  you  ordered  the  express  at  eight." 

"  Did  I!  "  He  took  the  rest  of  his  coffee  in  a 
draught  and  jumped  up.  "  Did  I?  Then  watch 
me  in  action." 

"  Can  I  help!  "  she  asked. 

"  No.  You'd  interfere  with  the  system.  I've 
got  it  all  organized — organized  like  a  Eoman  col 
ony.  I  know  where  everything  is.  Can't  you  see 
I  do?  " 

In  what  seemed  to  Mrs.  Billings  most  foolish 
and  unwarranted  exultation,  he  looked  from  her 
to  the  heterogeneous  things  piled  around  the 
trunk. 

"  No,  I  can't.  And  nobody  but  a  man  could!  " 
she  snapped. 


18  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

' 1  In  twenty  minutes  you  will  see  this  trunk  go 
ing  downstairs  and  you'll  wonder  how  I  did  it. 
Between  you  and  me,  I  shall,  myself. ' ' 

He  took  off  his  coat  and  sprang  for  the  nether 
garment  that  had  remained  untouched  since  last 
evening. 

"  I  shan't.  I  shall  gasp  and  so  will  you  when 
you  come  to  unpack  the  muss.  There's  a  ring  at 
the  bell  now!  "  and  she  withdrew,  her  fears  aug 
mented  as  to  his  future  in  a  matter-of-fact  age. 

That  he  did  finish  packing  in  twenty  minutes  no 
one  can  deny,  the  protesting  expressman  being  a 
witness  to  the  fact  that  when  Somebody  on  Torts 
will  not  be  compressed  to  the  size  of  a  First 
Eeader,  or  a  tennis  racket  folded  up  like  a  fan, 
even  with  their  owner 's  whole  weight  on  the  trunk 
lid,  they  and  other  things  of  unaccommodating 
rigidity  have  to  be  left  outside  to  be  carried  by 
hand. 

As  he  descended  the  stairs,  his  aspect  was  that 
of  a  man  who  had  gathered  up  all  the  articles  he 
could  before  his  retreat  from  a  burning  building. 
Between  his  two  free  fingers  he  carried  the  envelope 
addressed  to  The  International  Law  Review.  The 
tactical  situation  was  such,  as  he  explained  to  Mrs. 
Billings,  that  he  would  have  partly  to  dismantle 
in  order  to  lift  up  the  mail  box  lid. 

Mrs.  Billings  herself  took  charge  of  starting  the 
magnum  opus  on  its  journey.  This  done  at  the 
first  street  corner,  she  asked  him,  cargo-bound  as 
he  was,  how  he  was  ever  going  to  buy  his  ticket 
and  check  his  trunk. 


ENTER  THE  HOME  FOLK  19 

66  Drop  things  and  pick  them  up  again,  I  guess," 
was  the  only  solution  that  occurred  to  him. 

She  suggested  a  better  way.  Bareheaded,  she 
walked  beside  the  self-borne  caravan  to  the  sta 
tion.  There,  without  dropping  anything  but  a  soft 
hat,  he  was  able  by  throwing  his  shoulders  apart 
to  make  sufficient  opening  in  the  overlapping  im 
pedimenta  hung  from  either  arm,  to  enable  the 
fiduciary  agent  to  fish  the  one  ten-dollar  bill  to  his 
name  out  of  his  pocket.  She  stuffed  back  the 
change  and  the  token  of  brass  just  before  the  call 
of  "All  aboard!  " 

Completely  blocking  the  rear  platform  on  which 
he  stood,  with  a  choking  in  his  throat,  he  watched 
the  little  woman  alternately  wiping  her  eyes  with 
her  handkerchief  and  waving  it — and  he  was 
happy  to  have  the  last  glimpse  a  wave. 

"  That's  some  capital — to  have  Mrs.  Billings 's 
love,"  he  thought,  gratefully.  Once  he  had  oc 
cupied  a  seat,  he  was  assured  of  having  it  to  him 
self.  There  was  no  room  for  anybody  or  anything 
else.  Over  the  shoulder  of  the  man  in  front  of 
him  he  saw  the  morning  paper  for  the  first  time, 
and  glaring  at  him  were  the  headlines, ' '  Thrashed 
Young  Millionaire  !  "  with  a  full  account — any 
details  to  make  the  story  interesting  having  ac 
crued  with  its  travel  from  mouth  to  mouth  to  a 
reporter's  ear.  "  Young  Harden 's  father,  it  will 
be  recalled,  won  State  prominence  by  his  prosecu 
tion  of  Colonel  Walker,  some  twenty  years  ago  ': 
— ran  the  explanation  which  gave  the  narrative 
its  sensational  importance. 


20  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  I  was  mad.  I  couldn't  help  it."  He  knew 
that  under  the  same  circumstances  he  would  do 
the  same  thing  again. 

For  the  rest  of  the  journey  his  thoughts  were 
on  the  home  folks  and  his  future.  By  this  time 
Epaminanidad  must  have  brought  them  the  letters 
with  his  version  of  the  incident  which  he  had 
posted  the  night  before.  How  would  they  receive 
it?  And  what  was  he  to  do  to  earn  the  money  to 
finish  his  course  in  law?  He  could  be  most 
definite,  he  found,  in  thinking  of  Abraham  and 
Blackstone,  but  on  the  problem  of  making  a  living 
he  was  most  indefinite. 

The  conductor's  call  of  "  Bolton!  "  brought 
a  struggle  with  a  more  immediate  practical 
problem — when  a  raincoat  had  slipped  to  the  floor 
and  with  it  a  hairbrush  out  of  a  pocket — solved, 
however,  thanks  to  the  good  offices  of  a  fellow  pas 
senger,  who  tried  to  keep  a  straight  face  while  he 
acted  as  loader. 

Bolton  was  a  small  town  which  had  fallen  into 
decay  without  even  the  distinction  of  being  a 
county  seat  that  saves  the  dignity  of  many  de 
cayed  towns  which  see  their  industries  drawn 
away  by  railroad  centers  and  farmers  go  by  their 
doors  to  a  larger  market.  An  island  in  the  midst 
of  increasing  population,  it  had  lost  population. 

The  Harden  home  was  well  out  past  the  post- 
office  and  the  stores  and  the  churches  on  the  main 
street,  which  was  but  a  dusty  road,  whose  turning 
past  the  Episcopal  church  brought  him  in  sight 
of  the  old  brick  house  in  a  two-acre  lot,  with  many 


ENTER  THE  HOME  FOLK  21 

generous  shade  trees,  most  of  them,  except  the 
old  elm — which  he  delightedly  saw  showed  never  a 
dead  limb  among  its  languid  plumes — planted  by 
his  father.  But  something — something  which  he 
could  not  place — had  changed  in  the  picture, 
though  Epaminanidad,  a  looked-for  figure  in  the 
foreground,  was  waiting  at  the  gate,  which  he 
opened  to  let  the  Big  Fellow  in. 

"  Hello,  Pam!  How 're  you  doing?  Shake 
hands  with  you  as  soon  as  I  have  a  hand  to 
spare!  " 

"  Yissah,  it's  yoM  "  Epaminanidad  screened 
his  eyes  with  his  knuckly  black  hand.  "  Yo'  big 
ness  is  fillin'  to  de  eyes,  an'  yo'  voice  is  cheery." 

* '  Now  I  know  what  it  is !  ' '  the  Big  Fellow  ex 
claimed.  "  The  lawn  hasn't  been  clipped!  Going 
to  make  hay  I  Has  Betty  lockjaw?  ' 

Epaminanidad  had  told  himself  that  this  would 
come  the  first  shot  out  of  the  box,  and  here  was 
dire  prophecy  fulfilled.  Sore  hit,  he  dropped  to 
the  rear  without  a  word. 

"What  about  Two  Braids?  I  thought  she 
would  meet  me  at  the  station, "  the  Big  Fellow 
asked,  postponing  the  evil  moment  for  Pam. 

She  had  a  better  plan,  of  which  the  returning 
alumnus  was  advised  suddenly  from  ambush.  A 
ripe  cherry  flew  past  his  eyes  and  then  one  struck 
him  fairly  on  the  cheek,  as  he  looked  upward  into 
the  cherry-tree  shading  the  path  to  see  Miss  Ellen 
Moore,  in  the  mischief  of  twelve  years,  seated  on 
the  limb,  firing  what  seemed  an  unlimited  store  of 
ammunition. 


22  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

' 1  I  refuse  to  surrender  or  run !  ' '  he  shouted. 

Aching  fingers  let  all  his  baggage  fall  in  havoc 
around  him,  except  Somebody  on  Torts,  which  is 
a  thing  to  be  treated  with  respect  and  which  he 
laid  gently  on  the  ground. 

"  Great  lady,  I'm  glad  to  see  that  you  have  not 
done  your  hair  high  yet,"  he  observed.  "  It  will 
be  considered  in  your  favor  when  I  catch  you. 
I'm  coming  up." 

"Don't— don't!  You'll  break  all  the  limbs! 
I'll  come  down,  Jim!  "  she  answered. 

He  held  out  his  arms;  she  partly  leaped  and 
partly  fell  into  them,  and  before  he  put  her  down 
he  shook  her  in  rollicking  playfulness. 

"  And  how's  she  been  treating  you,  Pam?  "  he 
asked. 

Head  askew,  Pam  was  surveying  the  pile  which 
the  Big  Fellow  had  dropped. 

11  Well,  she  don'  call  me  factotum  no  mo'.  Mis' 
Julia  made  her  stop.  I  kin  stand  any t 'ing  but 
dat,  f 'r  I  ain'  no  factotum — any  t 'ing  but  dat  an' 
dem  Greeks.  An'  she  ain'  filled  mah  shoes  wif 
shucks  oftener'n  ushal.  An'  I  done  got  even  wif 
her  by  tyin'  her  braids  roun'  de  po'ch  pos'  when 
she's  a-puckerin'  her  fo'haid  ovah  her  books  like 
she  got  a  whole  houseful  o'  trubbles  in  her  brain." 

i '  But  I  just  kept  on  studying  till  it  was  untied, ' ' 
she  retorted. 

"  Allus  de  las'  word!  "  groaned  Pam.  "  An' 
what  I'd  like  to  know,  Mistah  Jim,  is  how  yo'  evah 
carried  all  dem  t'ings,  bein'  yo'  ain'  quite  so  big's 
an  elephant  er  a  camel." 


ENTER  THE  HOME  FOLK  23 

Pam  picked  up  a  portion  of  ' '  dem  t  'ings  ' '  and 
followed  the  Big  Fellow  and  Miss  Two  Braids  up 
the  gravel  walk  to  where  two  old  ladies  stood  on 
the  steps,  framed  in  the  opening  of  the  honey 
suckle  vines  that  overran  the  porch. 

"  Here  he  is !  "  cried  Miss  Two  Braids,  running 
ahead,  and  "  Yeah  he  air!  "  said  Pam  from  the 
rear,  as  if  the  Big  Fellow  were  shadowy  and  in 
tangible,  being  visible  to  the  naked  eye  only  when 
pointed  out. 

' '  Was  ever  man  so  lucky  as  I  in  the  matter  of 
a  mother  and  an  aunt?  "  he  said,  as  he  kissed 
both  old  ladies. 

Then  he  looked  his  fill  of  the  loved  faces,  and 
Madame  Mother — as  he  had  named  her — and  Aunt 
Julia  looked  their  fill  of  him. 

"  I  don't  believe  he  has — not  an  inch!  "  ob 
served  Aunt  Julia,  judicially. 

"  I  should  hope  not!  "  said  Madame  Mother. 
"  Not  at  twenty-two!  " 

' '  Measure  there  and  see !  There 's  the  old  mark 
we  made  a  year  ago, ' '  Aunt  Julia  bade  him ;  and 
he  obediently  put  his  back  against  one  of  the 
porch  pillars. 

Epaminanidad  squinted  and  raised  himself  on 
tiptoe,  while  Miss  Two  Braids  brought  a  chair  and 
then  put  Somebody  on  Torts — which  did  have 
practical  uses,  she  found — on  the  chair,  and 
mounting,  was  able  to  pull  a  lock  of  hair  at  the 
same  time  that  everybody  laughed  and  decided 
that  he  hadn't — not  a  little  finger's  width. 

"  Oh,  Madame  Mother,  you  don't  look  over 


24  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

forty ;  and  yon,  Aunt  Julia — why,  your  rosy  cheeks 
justify  the  record  in  the  family  Bible  that  you  are 
her  younger  sister.  Why  couldn't  you  come  to 
the  graduation?  You  could  have  had  my  room 
and  Mrs.  Billings  would  have  put  me  on  a  cot  in 
the  garret." 

"  We  did  intend  coming,"  Madame  Mother  be 
gan,  "  and — and " 

"  Then  Martha  wasn't  feeling  well,"  from 
Aunt  Julia,  helpfully. 

Poor  dissemblers,  they,  counting  the  railroad 
fare  to  the  college  town  and  back  an  insuperable 
barrier  to  a  dearest  wish ! 

"  I  presume  you'd  like  to  wash  off  the  dust  of 
travel, ' '  suggested  Aunt  Julia,  lest  he  should  pur 
sue  this  lead  further. 

Their  welcome  seemed  more  subdued  than  he 
had  expected;  their  usual  brightness — except 
Miss  Two  Braids' — lacking.  Had  they  read  his 
letter  about  his  brawl  in  the  street?  And 
the  morning  paper?  Were  they  ashamed  of 
him? 

Meanwhile,  the  sight  of  familiar  home  marks, 
as  he  hung  his  hat  on  the  old  hall  rack,  drove  all 
other  ideas  away.  A  minute  later,  in  his  own 
room,  his  head  was  dipped  in  cool  spring  water, 
and  afterward,  out  of  graduate  curiosity,  as  he 
waited  on  Pam's  second  trip,  he  took  down  some 
of  his  boyhood  schoolbooks  from  the  hanging 
shelf  at  the  head  of  the  bed. 

"  I  took  your  algebra  and  your  first  Latin  les 
sons  and  put  back  the  Fifth  Reader,"  chirped 


ENTER  THE  HOME  FOLK  25 

Miss  Two  Braids,  looking  in  for  a  moment,  as  she 
tied  an  apron.  "  Algebra  is  simply  horrible.  It 
isn't  practical,  either.  I've  burned  my  fingers 
more  times  on  the  stove  since  I  got  out  of  simple 
arithmetic!  " 

Then  she  flew  downstairs  to  the  kitchen,  hav 
ing  uttered  her  defiance  of  liberal  education  to 
one  of  its  profound  exponents. 

Out  of  the  pockets  of  the  overcoat  of  that  pro 
found  exponent  Epaminanidad,  on  arriving,  re 
moved  a  penholder,  two  fire  insurance  blotters,  a 
piece  of  the  original  manuscript  of  the  essay,  a 
baseball,  two  pairs  of  socks  and  a  collar.  In  the 
inside  pocket  were  the  photographs  of  Madame 
Mother  and  Miss  Two  Braids,  wrapped  in  hand 
kerchiefs  and  pinned  in  carefully.  The  Big  Fel 
low  put  them  on  top  of  the  bookshelf. 

"  Dat's  all  of  yo'  traps,"  said  Pam,  "  an'  I 
reckon  I'd  bettah  go  down  an'  he'p  wif  de  supper. 
I  he'ps  roun'  de  house  all  I  kin  since  Betty — 
since " 

"  Since  what!  "  asked  the  Big  Fellow,  who, 
having  found  his  hairbrush,  was  brushing  his 
hair. 

"  Since — since  I  'gan  to  he'p  'bout  de  house. 
I — Ise  got  to  dress  an'  git  ready,"  he  mumbled,  as 
he  beat  a  retreat,  feeling  himself  most  unmanly  to 
leave  the  narration  of  the  truth  to  others  when 
he  felt  morally  to  blame  for  the  catastrophe  which 
weighed  on  his  mind. 

Dressing  for  supper  was  scarcely  an  elaborate 
function  for  Pam,  but  it  could  be  made  to  serve  as 


26  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

a  flying  excuse.  Miss  Two  Braids  said  that  he 
was  like  the  invariable  character  in  books  about 
the  South  and  admittedly  little  could  happen  in 
that  family  without  his  playing  a  part.  The  story 
of  how  he  came  to  be  in  this  Northern  household 
may  be  traced  back  to  a  crisis  in  the  career  of  one 
of  Morgan's  Raiders,  who  had  to  travel  so  fast 
that  his  servant  was  left  behind  to  drift  about 
until  he  attached  himself  to  James  Harden,  Sr. 
His  true  name,  so  it  had  been  intimated  to  him 
from  youthful  heights,  when  the  Big  Fellow  first 
explored  Grecian  history,  must  be  Epaminondas 
—a  heresy  which  Pam  disposed  of  by  the  purest 
logic,  and  ever  afterward  he  was  against  the 
Greeks  on  all  occasions. 

"  Epaminanidad  I  heerd  it  fust,  an'  Epami- 
nanidad  it  is,"  he  had  said,  "  an'  I  am'  askin' 
nuffin  from  de  Greeks  as  to  what  it  was  my 
mother  call'  me — not  at  my  age  I  ain'!  ' 

He  stood  behind  Madame  Mother's  chair  at  the 
simple  meal,  set  among  as  much  of  her  wedding 
silver  and  Aunt  Julia's  wedding  silver  and  their 
mother's  and  grandmother's  wedding  silver  as 
the  table  would  hold,  the  rest  being  on  the  side 
board. 

"  I  see  Mrs.  Baxter  washes  as  well  as  ever. 
How  is  she?  "  the  Big  Fellow  remarked,  noting 
the  linen. 

Mrs.  Baxter  had  been  their  washerwoman  for 
years.  As  Miss  Two  Braids  once  said :  * '  Every 
thing  about  our  house  has  been  for  years ;  that  is 
why  it  is  so  nice." 


ENTER  THE  HOME  FOLK  27 

"  Well  as  usual,  I  think/'  said  Aunt  Julia, 
boldly. 

She  was  the  better  of  the  two  sisters  at  evasion. 

"  An'  how's  Betty?    I  nearly  forgot  her!  " 

Epaminanidad's  courage  came  like  an  inspira 
tion. 

"  It's  me  yo'  oughtah  ask  dat,"  he  announced. 


in 


EPAMINANIDAD 

OF  affairs  of  State  we  shall  hear  much 
eventually;  of  matters  most  serious  to 
this  family  we  shall  hear  presently;  but 
first,  the  whole  truth  about  Betty  from  Epami- 
nanidad,  oblivious  of  the  details  of  service,  while 
Madame  Mother  put  the  frizzled  beef  on  the 
plates  which  she  passed  herself  and  Aunt  Julia 
poured  the  tea.  It  is  allowable,  without  detract 
ing  from  Pam's  courage,  to  entertain  a  polite  sus 
picion  that  the  opportunity  of  telling  the  thing  in 
his  own  way  at  length  was  influential  in  inducing 
that  inspiration. 

4 '  To  sum  it  up  right  at  de  start,  I  reckon  Betty 
was  gittin'  mighty  ol',  an'  she  wouldn't  'a'  fell  but 
fo'  mah  carefullessness  an'  dem  'longated  hoofs 
o'  hers,"  he  said.  "  Betty  was  eighteen  'cordin' 
to  our  count,  an'  havin'  los'  her  horns  she  had  no 
count  o'  her  own.  Yo'  'membahs  how  yo'  was 
gwine  on  six  when  we  got  her,  Mistah  Jim?  Why, 
Betty  was  gittin'  sort  o'  middle-aged  'fo'  yo'  was 
big  'nuff  to  took  notice,  Miss  Ellen.  Yo'  'mem 
bahs,  Miss  Ellen,  how  she  fetched  yo'  a  wop  wif 
her  tail  right  'cross  de  face  in  fly  time — which,  I 
mus'  say,  is  mos'  aggervatin'." 

28 


EPAMINANIDAD  AND  BETTY  29 

Aunt  Julia  spoke  for  Miss  Two  Braids,  whose 
upbringing  was  her  particular  province. 

"  Yes,  and  Ellen  was  fearfully  angry  about  it," 
she  remarked.  "  She  parroted  something  she'd 
heard  you  say,  Martha.  She  said  that  if  Betty 
had  done  it  intentionally  she  wanted  her  punished, 
and  if  she  hadn't  her  education  ought  to  be  taken 
in  hand.  I  suppose  you  take  as  many  lumps  as 
usual,  Jimmy  boy  ?  ' ' 

"  Lumps  and  Jimmy  boy!  That  does  sound 
like  home!  "  exclaimed  the  Big  Fellow.  "  And 
home  ought  to  be  sweetening  enough  for  me,  little 
aunt." 

"I'm  giving  you  three.  We  used  to  say  that 
the  only  way  was  to  pour  the  tea  into  the  sugar 
bowl  and  pass  you  that.  And  a  little  milk,  I  re 
member.  Now  that  we've  got  used  to  the  con 
densed  we  like  it  quite  well. ' ' 

"  An'  Betty  was  gittin'  powahful  slow  an'  it 
did  rain  powahful  hard,"  Pam  proceeded.  "  All 
dese  yeahs  I'd  been  takin'  her  out  an'  tetherin' 
her  ev'y  mornin'  an'  bringin'  her  in  at  night, 
an'  talkin'  to  her  ev'y  night  when  I  milked 
her.  I  nevah  did  heah  of  a  cow  that  so  liked 
talkin'. 

11  An'  dem  hoofs  kep'  on  growin'  an'  growin'! 
Why,  dey  got  longer 'n  shovels  an'  turned  up  like 
a  swell  box  cuttah.  'Peahs  like  if  she  couldn't 
have  any  horns  she's  bound  to  make  up  on  hoofs. 
Dey  got  so  bad  she  didn'  really  walk;  she 
skated.  An'  I  don'  t'ink  I  oughtah  take  all  de 
blame,  kase  dey  nevah  would  let  me  use  mah  jedg- 


30  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

ment  'bout  dem  hoofs.  Why,  Mistah  Jim,  I  could 
?a'  sawed  .er  chopped  off  six  or  eight  inches  'thout 
Betty  missin'  her  cud  er  knowin'  any  mo'  'bout  it 
'n  if  de  nex'  do'  neighbor  was  sawin'  a  ham  bone. 
She'd  jes'  navigated  bettah  'thout  undahstandin' 
why. 

"  Well,  on  de  seventeenth  of  April,  I  'membah 
de  date " 

"  We  didn't  tell  you,  Jim,  because  we  thought 
it  might  interfere  with  your  essay  and  your  thesis 
and  all  the  other  things, ' '  Miss  Two  Braids  inter 
jected. 

"  And  we  knew  how  fond  you  were  of  Betty," 
Madame  Mother  added. 

"  I  done  went  out  fo'  Betty  at  milkin'-time  in  de 
rain,  an'  she  was  dreffle  stubbo'n.  I  guess  I  jes' 
los'  mah  tempah,  kase  it  was  a  col'  rain.  l  Yo've 
got  runnahs  like  a  sled,  yo'  ol'  fool,  an'  I'll  pull 
yo'  in  if  yo'  won't  lift  yo'  legs!  '  I  says,  mos' 
cruel.  An'  'stid  o'  givin'  a  shoulder  when  she 
comes  to  de  terrace  an'  he 'pin'  her  in  any  way,  as 
I  ushally  did — yissah,  I  done  let  her  slide,  an'  she 
done  went  down  all  of  a  heap  an'  broke  her  legs 
an'  her  insides,  too,  I  guess,  fo'  she  nevah  got  up. 
An'  de  ol'  lawn  mowah  jes'  all  went  to  pieces  nex' 
day,  like  trubbles  nevah  come  singly !  ' ' 

Whereon,  Pam  lapsed  into  a  hysterical  giggle. 

"  It's  not  a  laughing  matter,"  Aunt  Julia 
warned  him;  and  it  was  not,  for  Betty  or  the 
family. 

"  I  wasn'  laffin',"  said  Pam,  honestly.  "It's 
kase  Ise  so  distressed  in  mah  mind.  Someway  I 


EPAMINANIDAD  AND  BETTY  31 

am'  been  right  since,  nohow.  I  gets  ev'yt'ing 
wrong  jes'  as  easy,  jes'  as  easy  as  I  used  to  get 
'em  right.  Ise  pulled  onions  fo'  weeds,  an'  Missus 
won'  lemme  tech  de  dishes  no  mo',  kase  I  breaks 
'em.  But  I  kin  wash  de  closes !  '  —triumphantly 
— "  yis,  I  kin!  "  thus  explaining  family  igno 
rance  of  the  state  of  Mrs.  Baxter's  health. 

Madame  Mother  and  Aunt  Julia  gave  him  a 
glance  which  taxed  his  wits  for  a  way  of  escape. 

' '  M-m-muh — mah  own  clothes !  ' '  Pam  corrected 
himself,  rather  tardily. 

The  two  old  ladies  knew  that  the  truth  must 
come,  but  in  an  orderly  family  it  ought  to  come 
in  order.  Big's  home-coming  and  his  supper  must 
be  as  they  were  in  the  old  days.  He  divined  that 
they  were  holding  back  some  secret,  and  he  be 
came  himself  a  silent  partner  in  a  plan  of  which 
Miss  Two  Braids  was  the  quickest  partisan.  She 
made  a  diversion  by  going  for  the  peaches,  grown 
on  their  own  tree  and  put  up  pound  for  pound  to 
please  his  taste. 

It  was  she,  too,  who  cleared  away  the  dishes 
swiftly,  meanwhile  asking  the  Big  Fellow  count 
less  questions.  Was  geometry  harder  than  alge 
bra?  Had  he  really  passed  ninety  in  calculus? 
Were  diplomas  really  made  of  sheepskin?  Would 
he  frame  his  or  put  it  in  the  old  iron  safe  in 
Madame  Mother's  room?  Did  it  make  you  feel  a 
lot  prouder  and  older  when  you  got  it? 

"  What  can  we  do?  She  takes  the  work  out  of 
our  hands!  "  exclaimed  Madame  Mother. 

Poor  Epaminanidad,  as  busy  as  a  French  clown 


32  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

between  trying  to  get  out  of  her  way  and  to  help, 
was  triumphantly  successful  in  carrying  out  a 
platter  and  in  putting  one  of  the  napkins  on  the 
sideboard. 

"  I'll  wash  the  dishes!  I  choose  that!  "  volun 
teered  the  alumnus. 

"  Oh,  no — no!  "  Madame  Mother  was  shocked 
at  the  idea. 

"  Please  let  him!  Please  let  Mister  Ninety  in 
Calculus!  "  pleaded  Miss  Two  Braids.  "  I  want 
to  see  him!  " 

"  Please !  "  pleaded  the  Big  Fellow  himself. 

"  You  can  have  my  apron,"  said  Miss  Two 
Braids.  "  My!  and  it's  button  strings!  What 
fun!  " 

When,  in  the  midst  of  racing  remarks  about  the 
breadth  of  back  that  had  to  be  spanned,  with  a 
piece  of  cord  she  had  supplied  the  difference  in 
the  size  of  waists,  Mister  Ninety  in  Calculus 
looked  as  practical  as  simple  arithmetic,  she  said. 
For  fear  that  Pam  would  go  into  convulsions,  he 
was  sent  to  see  that  all  the  chickens  were  safe  for 
the  night. 

"  I  can  wash  faster  than  you  can  wipe,"  as 
serted  the  Big  Fellow. 

"  No,  you  can't — not  properly!  ' 

"But  I  am!  " 

"  It's  the  calculus!  I  believe  it  helps  as  much 
as  algebra  hurts." 

The  old  ladies  watched  from  the  doorway. 
After  the  task  was  finished,  and  after  Pam  had 
gone  to  bed,  Aunt  Julia  looked  at  Madame  Mother 


EPAMINANIDAD  AND  BETTY  33 

significantly.  It  was  prearranged  for  Madame 
Mother  to  do  the  talking,  for  she  was  the  senior. 

'  '  Jimmy,  there  is  a  lot  I  have  to  tell  you, ' '  she 
said.  "  I  have  kept  it  back  until  now  because  I 
wanted  to  see  you  have  your  diploma  first. ' ' 

Miss  Two  Braids,  in  the  silence  that  followed, 
picked  up  her  book  and  pencil,  understanding  that 
she  was  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  gulf  of  the  teens 
between  twelve  and  the  grown-ups  to  be  in  a 
family  conclave. 

"  No,  Ellen.  You  are  to  come,  also.  You  are 
old  enough  and  it  is  right  you  should  know,  as 
Julia  and  I  have  concluded." 

With  this,  Madame  Mother  erectly  led  the  way 
into  the  parlor,  where  she  had  already  lighted  the 
lamp  with  the  glass  standard. 


IV 

A   STRAIGHT-BACKED-CHAIK    OCCASION 

HOW  Miss  Two  Braids  came  to  this  family 
is  as  simple  as  tlie  life  of  the  family  itself. 
Her  parents  had  been  killed  in  a  railroad 
accident  when  she  was  a  baby.  This  penniless, 
fledgling  grandniece  of  Aunt  Julia,  who  was 
childless  and  a  widow,  by  losing  one  mother  had 
won  two,  with  Aunt  Julia  having  precedence  in 
authority. 

"  Girls  are  easy,"  Madame  Mother  observed, 
when  the  sleeping  bundle  in  a  woollen  blanket 
arrived. 

"  Right  environment  will  make  it  easy,"  Aunt 
Julia  decided,  immediately  feeling  her  re 
sponsibility  as  guardian. 

"  Especially  with  such  blood  as  hers,"  Madame 
Mother  asserted. 

' '  But,  of  course,  you  know  there  is  some  French 
and  some  Irish." 

"  Which  ought  to  make  her  all  the  more 
charming!  " 

"  It's  rather  skittish,  though,  the  French  and 
Irish  part,  and  does  need  care, ' '  which  Aunt  Julia 
determined  should  not  be  lacking.  "  I'm  glad  I 
have  a  little  money  out  at  interest,  Martha,"  she 
added,  "  so  I  feel  quite  free  to  take  her." 

34 


:       'A  STRAIGHT-BACKED-CHAIR  OCCASION    35 

"  Nonsense!  "  said  Madame  Mother,  as  if  ask 
ing  what  had  money  to  do  with  adopting  a  baby 
girl  who  had  such  wonderful  dark  eyes.  Her  own 
were  grey,  and  she  had  never  liked  them. 

Miss  Two  Braids7  cheerfulness,  a  thing  con 
stant  even  in  mischief,  seemed  to  be  a  normal  ex 
pression  of  delight  and  gratitude  over  the  miracle 
of  a  trembling  bird  falling  into  a  downy,  strange 
nest  which  was  practically  her  own,  for  she  re 
membered  no  other. 

When  the  Big  Fellow  seated  himself  in  a 
straight-backed  chair,  after  the  formal  occupation 
of  the  parlor,  she  took  the  one  beside  it,  the  soles 
of  her  shoes  barely  touching  the  floor.  It  gave 
her  a  sense  of  security  to  be  near  him.  When  he 
interlocked  his  fingers  she  interlocked  hers,  quite 
conscious  that  she  must  be  doing  the  proper  thing. 
On  the  other  side  of  the  lamp,  its  glass  standard 
sunk  in  a  wool  mat  with  red  ribbon  insertion,  were 
Madame  Mother  and  Aunt  Julia,  also  in  straight- 
backed  chairs. 

Unexpected  thoughts  are  always  flashing  into 
mind  when  least  wanted,  and  Miss  Two  Braids 
caught  herself  just  in  time  not  to  say  aloud  that 
this  seemed  to  be  a  straight-backed-chair  occasion. 
She  lifted  her  soles  off  the  floor  and  determined 
to  keep  them  off  as  a  reminder  of  her  definite  con 
viction,  drawn  from  experience,  that  it  was  not 
becoming  of  the  youngest  member  of  the  council 
when  on  trial  to  say  a  single  word  unless  she  was 
asked  a  question. 

"  You    got    my    letter    about — about    how    I 


36  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

tried  to  clear  up  a  misunderstanding  with  Ned 
Walker?  "  the  Big  Fellow  asked.  Their  silence 
on  this  subject  had  been  the  worst  kind  of  punish 
ment  for  him. 

"  Yes,"  exclaimed  Madame  Mother,  with  a  start. 
It  was  not  at  all  the  thing  which  the  two  old  ladies 
had  in  mind.  What  might  have  been  in  ordinary 
times  an  overwhelming  affair  to  the  little  house 
hold,  when  precipitated  into  the  midst  of  the  re 
hearsal  of  how  they  were  to  make  their  revelation 
to  him,  had  been  completely  eclipsed.  1 1  You  could 
not  have  done  otherwise  under  the  provocation 
you  had,  Jimmy,"  she  announced.  "  You  did 
what  your  father  would  have  done." 

So  he  had  not  played  the  bully.  It  was  a  relief 
to  him  to  be  acquitted  by  the  gentlest  of  author 
ities;  and  by  Aunt  Julia,  who  signalled  him  a 
smile : 

"  You  acted  as  a  man  ought  to  act!  "  she  said, 
snappily.  "  Never  mind  if  you  didn't  stop  grow 
ing  till  you  were  nineteen." 

"  Oh,  I  was  glad— glad!"  added  Miss  Two 
Braids,  her  disregarded  soles  touching  the  floor 
in  her  excitement. 

"  Ellen!  "  from  Aunt  Julia. 

Miss  Two  Braids  had  resort  to  severer  meas 
ures.  She  crossed  her  legs  and  drove  the  calf  so 
hard  against  the  chair  seat  that  it  hurt.  If  she 
kept  up  the  torture,  she  reasoned,  she  was  bound 
not  to  think  of  other  things  which  she  ought  not 
to  think  of  and  always  did. 

"  Though  it's  not  an  affair  to  glory  in,  but  one 


A  STRAIGHT-BACKED-CHAIR  OCCASION    37 

to  be  regretted;  and  I  was  happy  that  you  saw  it 
that  way/'  Madame  Mother  continued.  "  I  was 
not  so  proud  of  it  as  I  was  that  you  refused  to 
work  for  Colonel  Walker.  He  would  not  have 
wanted  that,  either. " 

She  looked  up  at  the  oil  portrait  at  the  end  of 
the  room.  In  the  dimness  of  the  shaded  light  the 
forensic  mouth  and  fighting  eyes  of  a  man  of  vigor 
and  middle  age  stood  forth  in  intellectual  aggres 
siveness  from  a  gilt  frame.  His  high,  broad  fore 
head  the  son  had,  and  in  addition  the  grey 
eyes  and  the  finely  chiseled  aquiline  nose  and 
the  firm  chin  of  his  mother.  The  father's  prosecu 
tion  of  Colonel  Walker  had  failed ;  his  investments 
in  small  competing  companies  had  been  swept 
away  by  the  Colonel's  amalgamations  after  the 
acquittal ;  and  his  death,  Madame  Mother  thought, 
was  due  to  persecution,  following  him  to  the  grave, 
by  this  man  who  had  kept  himself  out  of  jail  and 
saved  himself  from  the  wrath  of  public  opinion  by 
the  corrupt  use  of  money. 

"  No,  Jimmy,  he  would  not  have  wanted  that, 
even  if  he  knew  our  position."  Our  position! 
That  gave  her  the  key.  She  forgot  all  the  words 
she  had  rehearsed  on  sleepless  nights.  "  And  our 
position  is  pretty  bad.  I  don't  well  see  how  it 
could  be  worse,  except  through  death  or  sickness. 
We  have  been  selfish  enough  to  keep  it  from  you, 
as  I  said,  till  you  were  graduated. ' ' 

"  No.  I  am  the  selfish  one.  A  fool  full  of 
books!  "  he  said,  the  truth  dawning  on  him. 
"  I've  been  taking  money  you  needed.  You  have 


38  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

been  going  without  everything  for  me!  Now  I 
see.  I— I " 

"  How  can  you  say  that  when  we  haven't  sent 
you  a  penny  in  six  months  ?  ' 

"I'm  mostly  to  blame,  myself,"  began  Aunt 
Julia,  precisely.  "  I  speculated — yes,  I — I  did — 
with  the  little  money  I  had.  Mr.  Jones,  of  our 
church,  had  a  great  chance  in  a  mine  out  West. 
He  put  in  some  of  his  money.  I  believe  Mr.  Hob- 
ber  did,  too,  though  of  course  we've  never  known 
him  very  well.  I  thought  if  I  could  only  multiply 
it  ten  times — and  it  looked  as  if  I  could — how  you 
could  have  a  law  course  and  Ellen  could  have  the 
schooling  she  ought  to  have.  But  I  lost  it  all — 
yes,  all!  "  Aunt  Julia  concluded,  blankly.  "  I — 
I  know  I'm  an  awful  old  fool,  Jimmy." 

"  No!  You  are  the  dearest  aunt  in  the 
world!  "  said  the  Big  Fellow,  seeing  the  lamp 
light  through  a  mist. 

"  Yes!  She  is!  "  cried  Miss  Two  Braids,  who 
got  no  warning  for  that. 

"  No,  Julia.  I  would  have  done  the  same," 
Madame  Mother  inserted. 

"  But  I  am  an  old  fool.  I'll  not  be  disputed!  " 
Aunt  Julia  repeated. 

"  Since  Julia  was  cheated  so  we  have  had  no 
income  at  all,  though  I  know  that  you  thought  we 
had,"  Madame  Mother  hurried  on.  "I  hate  to 
confess  it — but  I  must  tell  everything — I've  even 
borrowed  money  on  the  silver  and  furniture !  We 
haven't  paid  the  interest  on  the  mortgage  for 
years.  I'm  afraid  we  deceived  you  a  little  when 


A  STRAIGHT-BACKED-CHAIR  OCCASION    39 

we  kept  you  in  the  idea  that  we  let  the  mortgage 
run  because  the  interest  was  less  than  what  Julia 
was  getting.  And  property  values  have  been  go 
ing  down.  Why,  the  old  place  is  not  worth  more 
than  half  what  it  was  when  your  father  died.  I 
can't  deny  that  Mr.  Hobber  is  right.  It  won't  sell 
for  two-thirds  of  what  we  owe  on  it.  It's  the 
twentieth  of  June  now,  and  we  must  give  up  the 
house  on  July  first." 

"  Oh !  "  A  smothered  sob  came  from  Miss  Two 
Braids. 

The  dread  announcement  left  Madame  Mother 
breathless,  white  and  still.  There  was  unbroken 
silence  until  the  Big  Fellow  rose  and,  crossing 
the  room,  kissed  her  on  the  forehead.  Then  he 
began  pacing  up  and  down  in  leonine  restlessness. 

"  A  fool  full  of  books!  "  he  kept  repeating.  A 
fool  full  of  books,  who  had  let  two  old  ladies  go  in 
threadbare  frocks  for  him ! 

u  Now  I  understand  all  you've  done  for  me— 
all!  "  he  said,  slowly. 

"  The  law!  You  must  go  on  with  that!" 
his  mother  told  him,  solemnly.  "  Your  father 
wished  it." 

"  We  are  quite  reconciled  to  going,  now,  we've 
thought  of  it  so  much,"  concluded  Aunt  Julia. 
"  In  the  city  we  can  all  find  something  to  do — or 
whatever  we  conclude  is  best,  Jimmy." 

"  You're  not  going!  "  declared  the  Big  Fellow, 
with  a  toss  of  his  head  that  seemed  to  dispose  of 
the  whole  matter.  "  What  do  you  think  I  am, 
good  mother  and  good  aunt  1  Two  hundred  pounds 


40  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

of  idleness  and  worthless  classical  education? 
Don't  you  think  I'm  equal  to  a  little  go  at  the 
world?  Do  I  look  like  a  dyspeptic  or  consump 
tive?  I'll  see  Mr.  Hobber  about  the  interest  first 
and  then  to  pay  him. ' ' 

"  But  Mr.  Hobber 's  mind  is  made  up."  Madame 
Mother  smiled  a  little  wanly.  He  was  still  a  boy 
to  her  mind  and  quite  unused  to  interest  payments 
and  practical  affairs. 

In  the  interval  in  which  it  seemed  as  if  they  had 
nothing  more  to  say,  and  he  was  thinking  how  he 
would  reconcile  them  to  his  giving  up  the  law 
and  asking  that  Colonel  Walker  would  let  him 
reconsider,  they  heard  the  crunch  of  wheels  on  the 
drive.  The  unusual  sound  startled  them  and  they 
waited  expectantly  for  the  sound  of  the  bell,  which 
it  was  the  accepted  duty  of  Miss  Two  Braids  to 
answer.  She  wiped  her  eyes  and  tried  to  keep 
her  trembling  lip  firm  as  she  left  the  room. 


V 

A  BUSINESS  CALL 

' '  f^\  OOD-EVENING,  Miss.    Is  Mr.  Harden  at 

fjr  home?  " 

A  cheerful  voice  was  this,  accompanying 
a  fine-wrinkled  face,  with  bright  little  eyes,  grey 
moustache,  and  grey  hair  clustering  about  the  ears. 
As  if  he  took  an  affirmative  answer  for  granted, 
the  visitor  entered  before  Miss  Two  Braids  minded 
her  manners  enough  to  say,  "  Please  come  in." 
Callers  were  so  unusual  that  she  was  excusable. 

"  You're  his  little  sister,  I  take  it.  No? 
At  any  rate,  I'm  glad  to  know  you." 

Miss  Two  Braids  found  that  she  was  being 
treated  to  the  honor  of  shaking  his  hand,  which 
was  soft  and  warm  and  not  as  lean  as  its  slight 
owner  would  lead  one  to  presuppose.  He  dropped 
his  hat  on  the  rack  quite  as  if  he  were  at  home. 

66  Now,  won't  you  ask  Mr.  Harden  if  he  will  see 
Colonel  Walker  a  minute  about  a  little  matter  of 
business!  You  better  look  to  Peg's  right  hind 
foot, ' '  he  called  from  the  door  in  a  kind  of  whinny 
to  the  coachman.  ' '  Seemed  to  me  as  if  she  had  a 
stone  in  it." 

The  Colonel,  whose  military  title  was  a  peace 
ful  relic  of  National  Guard  days  which  had  fol- 

41 


42  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

lowed  him  through  life,  rarely  came  to  Bolton. 
Stottstown,  whose  prosperity  had  been  Bolton 's 
ruin,  was  on  his  own  railroad  line  and  nearer  his 
new  country  place,  which  included  his  birthplace  in 
its  broad  acreage;  and  from  here,  a  distance  of 
some  ten  miles,  he  had  driven  over  that  evening 
on  an  errand  which  those  who  knew  him  would 
have  found  characteristic,  if  puzzling.  But,  then, 
he  was  a  puzzling  character. 

"  Well,  well!  They  don't  make  'em  much  big 
ger  'n  you  are !  "  he  said  admiringly  to  the  Big  Fel 
low,  who  came  out  of  the  other  room,  as  he  ex 
tended  that  soft,  warm  hand  which  he  allowed  to 
remain  in  Big's  generous  palm  for  a  second. 
"  Wasn't  expecting  me,  were  you,  Jim?  "  Calling 
a  man  by  his  first  name  was  one  of  the  Colonel's 
ways  of  ingratiating  himself  on  short  acquaint 
ance. 

"  No,  I  can't  say  I  was,"  Big  returned,  pleas 
antly. 

' '  Well,  I  ran  over  to  have  a  talk  with  you.  As 
it's  to  be  quite  a  long  talk,  I  hung  my  hat  up  on  the 
rack  without  saying  by  your  leave  to  this  little 
lady." 

"  The  lamp  is  in  the  parlor,  Colonel.  Come  in 
there." 

Madame  Mother  and  Aunt  Julia  stood  on  either 
side  of  the  table  and  received  the  visitor  with 
simple,  unaffected  politeness,  as  it  was  fitting  that 
a  guest  in  their  own  house  should  be  received. 

* '  Good  many  years  since  we  met,  Mrs.  Harden, ' ' 
the  Colonel  said,  graciously.  "  Mine's  a  busy  life 


A  BUSINESS  CALL  43 

and  it's  not  all  as  pleasant  as  some  people 
think." 

"  Won't  you  sit  down?  "  asked  Madame  Mother. 

As  he  turned  to  an  easy-chair  he  was  face  to 
face  with  the  portrait  of  James  Harden,  Sr.  The 
Colonel  blinked  and  stood  still.  He  recalled  that 
the  last  time  he  was  in  that  room  he  faced  the 
over-confident,  living  protagonist.  All  his  affairs 
were  at  a  crisis  then.  By  the  ledger  he  was  bank 
rupt;  he  was  guilty  of  bribery,  he  knew;  and  he 
had  come  to  plead  for  grace  which  was  denied. 
Yet  he  had  won  judge  and  jury  in  the  end  and  he 
had  won  because  business  was  business.  For  a 
time  he  had  been  vindictive  against  Harden,  a 
waste  of  energy  unusual  with  him.  While  the 
rapid  growth  of  his  affairs  and  his  success 
drowned  the  memory  of  the  old  fight,  it  had  been  a 
source  of  moldering  bitterness  in  this  household 
for  nearly  twenty  years. 

' '  Strong  man !  Strong  man,  Harden  was !  ' '  he 
remarked  aloud,  with  significant  and  friendly 
emphasis;  but  he  was  thinking:  "  The  boy's  got 
more  chin  than  his  dad. ' ' 

"  A  good  one!  "  Madame  Mother  observed, 
icily. 

"  None  better — none !  He  stood  for  principle," 
the  Colonel  agreed,  most  affably,  as  he  seated 
himself.  He  always  agreed,  not  from  calculation 
but  from  instinct,  on  all  extraneous  matters  when 
he  had  an  object  in  view.  "  Well,  little  lady, 
won't  you  sit  on  an  arm  of  the  chair?  "  he  asked, 
holding  out  a  hand  to  Miss  Two  Braids,  who  stood 


44  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

in  the  doorway  and  suddenly  reminded  herself 
that  it  was  bad  manners  to  stare. 

"  The  glue's  weak  in  'most  all  our  chairs — it's 
not  wise,"  she  demurred,  returning  to  her  place 
beside  the  Big  Fellow. 

She  hoped  that  she  had  been  polite,  but  she  did 
not  like  being  called  "  little  lady  "  by  a  stranger 
in  such  a  patronizing  manner.  The  Colonel  re 
minded  her  of  a  squirrel  asking  for  nuts,  and  the 
idea  so  pleased  her  that  she  would  like  to  have 
whispered  it  to  Big. 

"  I  see  you've  been  properly  brought  up.  Wis 
dom's  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world  " — one  of 
the  Colonel's  favorite  platitudes.  He  thought  it 
was  original.  "  Well,  I  guess  you  know  what 
brought  me  here.  Ned  told  me  how  you  hit  him — 
his  jaw's  a  little  sore,  too.  You  did  right,  abso 
lutely.  I've  been  talking  it  over  with  him  and  he's 
ashamed  of  what  he  said,  and  he  ought  to  be.  Yon 
jumped  him  about  it ;  he  was  mad  and  stood  by  his 
guns;  but  he  knew  he  was  wrong  or  he'd  have  hit 
you  back,  for  Ned's  no  coward.  When  I  got  your 
letter  I  said,  that's  more  of  your  manliness,  and  as 
I've  some  idle  time  on  my  hands  I'll  run  down 
and  see  you." 

Looked  at  in  one  light,  it  was  farcical  for  the 
richest  man  in  the  State,  who  controlled  its 
politics  and  resources  largely,  to  come  in  person 
to  seek  the  services  of  one  of  thousands  of 
graduates  turned  out  of  the  colleges  that  year. 
Either  Colonel  Walker  was  eccentric  or  the  world 
was,  as  you  please.  He  had  been  more  successful 


A  BUSINESS  CALL  45 

than  all  save  one  or  two  out  of  every  million  of 
the  world's  inhabitants,  and  the  secret  of  his  suc 
cess  was  in  his  choice  of  the  men  who  worked  for 
him.  He  never  looked  a  man  over  without  think 
ing  how  can  I  use  him  to  make  a  dollar  for  me 
every  time  he  makes  one  for  himself. 

"  Well,  when  I  pinned  Ned  right  down  to  it," 
continued  the  Colonel,  "  the  worst  he  could  say 
about  you  was  that  he  thought  you  played  to  the 
crowd  and  was  something  of  a  bluff;  and  I  said, 
well,  if  he  is,  he  is  good  at  it,  and  I  don't  know 
but  a  successful  bluff  is  better  than  a  full  house 
that  loses.  Bluff,  eh?  I  put  it  right  up  to  Ned. 
Look  at  the  hold  he  has  on  the  college  men!  " — 
now  speaking  directly  to  Madame  Mother. 
' '  Ne-eh !  ' '  the  Colonel  whinnied.  '  '  Mix  all  those 
students  up  in  a  crowd  and  suppose  that  they  were 
strangers  to  one  another,  and  if  the  Big  Fellow 
said,  '  Come  this  way,'  they'd  come,  and  if  he 
said,  *  Go  that  way,'  they'd  go." 

The  Colonel  was  friendly;  his  whinnying  voice 
had  a  certain  magnetic  charm.  You  might  have 
thought  him  one  of  the  family.  His  personality 
seemed  to  dominate  all  the  room  except  a  little 
area  around  the  Big  Fellow,  who  said : 

11  I  guess  I'm  so  tall  I'd  be  the  only  one  they'd 
see  above  the  heads  of  the  rest." 

"  Yes,  that's  part  of  it.  Ne-eh!  What  matters 
it  why  they  follow  you,  if  they  only  follow  1 ' '  This 
was  an  unconscious  revelation  of  the  Colonel's 
self.  "  Now,  the  other  day  I  said  I  didn't  want 
you  for  the  law.  I'll  put  it  another  way.  I'll  give 


46  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

you  a  chance  to  study  law.  I  wouldn't  mind  hav 
ing  one  lawyer  that  people  liked.  Most  of  mine 
have  been  pretty  unpopular. " 

' '  If  I  were  going  with  you  I  'd  rather  drop  law 
and  go  in  for  business, "  answered  Big,  promptly. 
"  Yes,  much  rather.  Then  I  would  know  where 
I  stood.'7 

The  Colonel  did  not  try  to  conceal  his  delight. 

"  Now  you're  talking!  I'll  give  you  a  hundred 
dollars  a  month  for  the  first  six  months ;  two  hun 
dred  the  next,  and  twice  that  every  year  for  the 
next  three  years  on  a  four-year  contract.  You'll 
be  in  the  great  game,  young  man,  developing  the 
resources  of  this  country  '  —after  wisdom  the 
Colonel's  favorite  hobby,  only  he  wanted  to 
have  personal  charge  of  all  the  development 
work. 

All  obligations  requited !  Comfort  for  Madame 
Mother  and  Aunt  Julia !  Education  for  Miss  Two 
Braids!  In  that  way  the  Big  Fellow,  taking  his 
time  to  answer,  summed  it  up  on  one  side.  On  the 
other,  what!  Ned  had  not  come  in  person  to  see 
him  and  Ned's  remark  had  bitten  deep.  In  it  was 
a  defiance  to  Big  to  prove  himself.  And  was  he  to 
give  up  his  Blackstone!  The  career  he  loved! 
Why  not!  "Was  it  not  only  a  college  ideal!  Had 
he  any  right  to  consider  it  for  a  moment!  Then 
his  eye  caught  Madame  Mother's.  She  would  not 
speak  a  word  aloud.  He  was  twenty-two,  she  was 
thinking ;  he  must  decide  for  himself.  But  he  was 
on  trial  before  her  and  her  memory  of  her  hus 
band.  Her  glance  plainly  told  him:  "  If  you 


A  BUSINESS  CALL  47 

accept  anything  or  have  anything  to  do  with  this 
man,  you  will  break  my  heart. ' ' 

The  Big  Fellow  rose,  smiling,  not  as  if  bidding 
the  guest  to  go,  but  as  if  he  saw  that  it  was  in  the 
guest's  mind  to  go,  and,  perforce,  Colonel  Walker 
rose,  too. 

"  I  thank  you,  Colonel.  You  have  done  me  a 
great  honor,  and  with  no  prejudice  and  probably 
for  no  reasonable  cause  I  am  going  to  refuse/7 

"  Well — well,  have  your  own  way.  I  shan't 
make  the  offer  again. "  He  had  been  perfectly 
sure  of  winning. 

"  If  I  wanted  to  reconsider  now  I  wouldn't  be 
worthy  of  it, ' '  was  the  reply. 

"  You'll  regret  it.    You're  making  a  mistake." 

The  Big  Fellow  seemed  to  be  dominating  all 
the  atmosphere  of  the  room. 

1  i  I  'm  only  twenty- two — twenty  years  from  now 
we  can  tell  better." 

And  the  world  would  know  then,  too,  whether 
or  not  Colonel  Walker  was  wasting  time  to  try  to 
bring  this  human  force  in  its  plastic  age  into  the 
service  of  his  properties. 

"  Well,  I'll  be  dammed!  "  the  Colonel  blurted 
at  the  door.  "  Gad!  You're  an  immense  fellow, 
no  doubt.  I'm  not  up  to  your  shoulder.  Ne-eh! 
Do  you  expect  to  settle  in  this  State?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  NotinBolton?  " 

"  Oh,  no.  Farther  afield.  Plans  not  entirely 
made  yet.  Will  start  day  after  to-morrow,  how 
ever,  ' '  answered  the  Big  Fellow,  good-humoredly. 


48  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"Ne-eh!  We'll  meet  again,  Mr.  Giant.  Good 
night!  " 

"  Good-night!  " 

When  they  heard  the  carriage  wheels  and  thus 
were  certain  that  the  visitor  had  gone,  the  two  old 
ladies  came  to  the  Big  Fellow  holding  out  their 
hands,  their  pale,  tranquil  faces  suffused  with 
pride  and  delight.  He  put  his  arms  around  them. 

"  But  there's  no  place  for  you.  I  haven't  a 
third  arm!  "  he  said  to  Miss  Two  Braids.  "  Oh, 
I  have  it!  The  best  of  all !" 

"  Oh,  you  can't!  I'm  too  big,  now.  I  weigh 
sixty-eight  pounds!  "  she  cried. 

1  *  I  certainly  can.  You  folks  at  home  must  think 
I'm  an  invalid." 

It  was  a  triumphant  journey  for  Ellen  to  be 
borne  aloft  so  steadily  and  powerfully  to  a  place 
on  his  shoulder. 

"  Here  we  are,  the  whole  family  united — Spar 
tan  mother,  Spartan  aunt,  prodigal,  and  the  joy 
of  the  house !  "  he  said,  with  a  great  shout.  "  For 
the  prodigal  it's  a  time  for  action.  To-morrow  I 
convince  Mr.  Hobber  that  he  must  let  us  stay  and 
wait  for  the  interest." 

"  I  know  how  you're  going  to  convince  Mr. 
Hobber,"  said  Miss  Two  Braids.  "  You're  going 
to  knock  him  down."  She  thought  that  the  Big 
Fellow's  size  was  a  sovereign  arbiter  for  differ 
ences  with  anybody. 

"  Ellen !  "  from  Aunt  Julia. 

"  Let  him  fall  on  something  soft,"  she  per 
sisted,  in  a  whisper,  as  she  twisted  a  lock  of  hair 


A  BUSINESS  CALL  49 

around  her  finger.  "  Maybe  you'll  only  have  to 
threaten.  'Twouldn't  do  to  have  Mr.  Hobber  miss 
passing  the  box  in  church.  He's  passed  it  ever 
since  the  world  began  ' ' — her  world,  at  any  rate. 

Leaning  on  his  strength  and  listening  to  his 
assurances  that  "  It  will  be  all  right!  Let  every 
body  sleep  like  a  top !  ' '  it  seemed  as  if  he  might 
summon  money  out  of  the  skies.  As  Aunt  Julia 
sat  on  the  edge  of  Madame  Mother's  bed  before 
retiring,  the  two  enjoyed  the  victory  for  principle, 
as  they  called  it.  Their  patient  training  had 
borne  fruit;  their  love  was  rewarded.  Yes,  these 
two  old  ladies  had  lived  to  see  Colonel  "Walker 
beaten ;  and  this  was  their  grateful  thought,  mind 
less  of  all  else,  as  they  said  their  evening  prayers 
together. 


VI 

SPLINTEKED   LIGHTNING   AND   FIREFLIES 

A 'TEE  the  Big  Fellow  had  gone  to  his  room 
came  footsteps  along  the  hall — sh-h,  soft 
and  slow  and  stealthy;  and  after  the  last 
one  just  outside  the  door — sh-h,  three  gentle  taps. 

"  Hello!  "  he  called,  and — sh-h,  the  door  was 
cautiously  opened  wide  enough  for  Miss  Two 
Braids'  head,  without  the  braids,  to  appear  and  to 
express  her  state  of  mind  in  a  stage  whisper. 

"  Oh,  I  know  I  can't  sleep!  The  moonlight 
would  pry  my  eyes  open  if  I  tried.  I'm  wide 
awake  as  the  stars!  " 

' '  Ellen !  "  he  warned  her,  with  his  finger  to  his 
lips  in  Aunt  Julia's  best  manner. 

"  Yes'm,  sir!  But  I  want  to  talk  to  someone 
and  be  talked  to,  just  for  talking 's  sake,  and — and 
about  nothing  in  particular." 

4 *  So  do  I,"  in  a  stage  whisper,  to  harmonize 
himself  with  her  mysteriousness ;  "  and  in  that 
case  only  two  people  are  necessary  to  make  up  a 
game.  Come  on !  Sh-h !  ' 

He  unlocked  the  casement  which  opened  onto 
the  roof  of  the  porch,  where  the  moonlight  made 
the  dew  on  the  floor  crystalline  bluish  bright  and 
set  deep  shadows  under  the  railings  and  eaves. 

"  Do  you  think  it  will?  "  he  asked  in  mock 

50 


SPLINTERED  LIGHTNING  51 

seriousness,  as  he  put  his  hands  on  the  arms  of  a 
weather-beaten  rustic  chair. 

"  Better  go  careful.  Think  what  a  squash  it 
would  make  if  it  did  break,  you  're  so  big !  ' ' 

The  chair  stood  the  test.  She  dropped  on  a  lit 
tle  stool  at  his  side  and  laid  her  head  against  his 
knee.  Without  waiting  for  a  toss-up  for  sides  she 
chose  the  "  ins  "  and  began  talking  at  once. 

"  My!  Hasn't  it  been — a  full  evening!  "  she 
sighed.  "  It  was  like  tearing  cloth  at  supper — 
rip-rip,  so  slow  and  knowing  you  hadn't  come  to 
the  seams,  and — and  were  you  ever  going  to? 
After  we  went  into  the  sitting-room  it  was  like 
lightning  when  it  splinters." 

"  When  does  lightning  splinter?  "  he  asked. 

61  Oh,  after  dreadfully  hot  weather.  You  don't 
see  it.  You  feel  it.  The  splinters  come  when  it 
seems  to  break  off  in  the  sky.  They  go  knitting 
all  through  you  and  you  tingle  and  wait  for  the 
thunder  crack.  It's  awful  suspense.  In  the  sit 
ting-room  it  was  worse.  It  was  like  lightning 
splintering  in  the  moonlight  and  no  thunder 
cracks."  She  paused.  "  M-m-m!  Can  you  guess 
what  else  I  was  thinking — at  least,  some  of  the 
time?  " 

He  gave  up  that  riddle  without  a  try. 

"  I  was  wondering  if  we  would  have  a  grand 
firefly  party  some  day  to  pay  for  the  lightning. 
After  the  storm,  in  the  evening,  the  fireflies  play 
around  the  foot  ©f  the  oak.  All  the  tingles  are 
gone  and,  just  happy,  I  put  up  my  shade 
watch  them  till  I  fall  asleep." 


52  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  Two  Braids,  I  think  you  have  too  much 
imagination  for  algebra. " 

"  It's  not  imagination.  It's  just  the  way  I 
see  it." 

She  had  a  practical  vein,  as  well. 

"  I  really  don't  think  it's  best  to  knock  Mr. 
Hobber  down,  though  it  would  be  just  as  easy  for 
you  to  knock  down  sixteen  Mr.  Hobbers  in  a  row. 
You  just  hold  him  against  the  wall,  quiet  and  kind 
like,  till  he  gives  up." 

He  patted  her  cheek  affectionately.  Any  kind 
of  foolishness  from  her  was  pleasant. 

"  All  right.  If  one  way  won't  do  I'll  try 
another." 

"  Only,  if  you  have  to  knock  him  down  to 
win,  don't  hesitate,  for  Aunt  Julia's  and  Aunt 
Martha's  sake.  They've  been  so  good  to  me  and 
I  love  them  so !  Think  f  when  they  were  so  poor 
never  telling  me  of  it  and  forgiving  me  for  being 
mischievous,  when  I  can't  keep  from  it.  Probably 
they  know  I  can't  and  that's  why  they  forgive 
me;  and  that  makes  them  all  the  kinder,  doesn't  it? 
And,  oh!  "  she  sobbed,  "  I  can't  do  anything  to 
help  except  love  everybody — and  not  cry.  There ! 
I'm  not  crying,  am  I?  " 

"  Not  a  tear!  " 

"  And  when  Mr.  Hobber  says,  '  Please  let  me 
go,  I'll  be  good,'  then  what  are  you  going  to  do, 
Mr.  Ninety  in  Calculus?  " 

She  pinched  his  chin  and  looked  up,  smiling, 
just  to  prove  that  she  had  not  been  crying. 

"  I'm  going  to  make  money,  first." 


SPLINTERED  LIGHTNING  53 

' '  My — yes !  It 's  so  easy  for  Colonel  Walker  to 
make  money.  You  can  see  that  just  as  plain.  But 
I'm  dreadfully  afraid  it's  not  for  you.  Seems  to 
me,  Jim,  just  as  if  you  know  so  much  of  everything 
else  that  there  isn't  any  room  for  that.  Oh,  I  wish 
I  could  help !  I — I  wonder  what  I  could  do.  Yes, 
I  could  be  a  cash  girl.  I  saw  them  in  the  store 
once  when  I  was  in  Stottstown.  All  they  have  to 
do  is  to  run  back  and  forth,  and  I'm  a  good 
runner.  Will  you  ask  Aunt  Julia  to  let  me  try!  " 

"  I  think  we'll  dismiss  that  idea,"  he  said. 
"  You  keep  on  loving  everybody  and  going  to 
school. ' ' 

"  But  hoiv  are  you  to  make  money?  I — I  think 
that  is  a  very  important  question, ' '  she  pursued. 

"  I  know,  but  I  haven't  told  anybody  yet.  I'm 
going  to  the  city  to  take  the  first  work  I  can  get 
at  anything." 

11  Now  we're  getting  splintery,"  she  said,  with  a 
frown.  "  I  won't  ask  any  more  questions  'cept 
one.  I've  been  thinking  of  that  the  whole  evening. 
If — if  you  didn't  have  to  get  money  for  us  at  home, 
what  would  you  like  to  do  when  you  are  a  man — I 
mean,  when  you  are  a  real  world's  man,  by  the 
time  I'm  grown  up 3  ?' 

"  Well,  if  I  tell  you,  you  won't  tell?  " 

"  No.    Cross  my  heart,  hope  to " 

"  Because  if  you  do  tell,  sometimes  I  think  it 
will  never  happen.  You  see,  if  I  went  with 
Colonel  Walker  and  became  his  lawyer  I'd  always 
have  to  plead  his  cases,  whether  right  or  wrong, 
being  in  his  pay.  I  could  not  plead  them  very 


54,  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

well  sometimes.  I  would  have  to  be  untrue  to 
what  he  hired  me  for,  or  untrue  to  myself.  Not 
that  Colonel  Walker  ought  not  to  have  his  side 
stated ;  but  other  men  could  do  that  better. ' ' 

"  But  he  ought  not!  He's  an  old  spider  and 
such  a  smart  spider !  '  Miss  Two  Braids  was  not 
of  the  judicial  temperament  herself. 

"  I'd  never  make  a  good  trial  lawyer,  because 
I'm  no  orator.  Perhaps  I  might  knock  the  jury 
down,  but  that's  not  the  custom.  I  couldn't  make 
a  partisan  lawyer,  because  I  don't  know  how. 
What  I  would  like  to  do,  young  lady,  is  to  study 
the  law,  all  the  law,  and  be  human." 

"  Well,  aren't  you  human  now!  "  she  asked. 
"  Seems  to  me  you  are,  very." 

1 '  Yes,  but  much  study  of  the  law  destroys  that 
quality,  they  say,  instead  of  developing  it  as  it 
should.  You  see,  I'd  like  to  hear  all  sides.  I'd 
like  to  have  all  the  books  and  the  human  experi 
ence  to  show  the  way,  and  then  go  straight 
ahead." 

"  Oh,  you'll  go  straight  ahead.  You  can  de 
pend  on  that,  Jim,"  she  said,  encouragingly. 

' l  It  seems  to  me  our  greatest  danger  is  in  mak 
ing  the  law  fit  the  needs  of  someone  who  has  in 
fluence,  ' '  he  went  on,  as  if  he  were  thinking  aloud. 
11  Anyone  who  interprets  it,  without  regard 
except  for  the  law  itself  and  its  spirit,  in  a  big 
thing  or  a  little  one,  is  doing  a  great  service,  and  I 
would  enjoy  that.  The  best  thing  in  the  world  is 
to  get  the  good  out  of  men  for  good  ends." 

"  And  Aunt  Martha  would  stand  just  as  good  a 


SPLINTERED  LIGHTNING  55 

chance  as  Colonel  Walker  in  your  court?"  she 
asked,  in  an  effort  after  simple  essentials. 

"  Yes,  precisely,  and  then  both  would  have  re 
spect  for  the  law  and  they  would  know  it  was  a 
thing  impartial  and  impersonal.  But  here  I  am 
talking  at  great  length.  And  the  secret  is,  Two 
Braids,  that  I  would  like  to  be  a  judge  some  day. 
Do  you  think  I'd  look  odd  as  a  judge?  " 

"  No.  You'd  be  big  and  smiling  and  they'd  all 
listen — my,  yes !  ' ' 

"  And,"  he  declared,  absently,  with  sudden 
vigor,  "  I  am  going  to  know  the  law,  even  if  I'm 
poor  all  my  life !  ' ' 

"  Of  course  you  will.  You'll  win,  Jim!  You 
will  be  justice  tempered  with  mercy — that's  from 
Shakespeare,  isn't  it?  "  she  exclaimed.  "  And 
there's  something  about  strained  in  it — oh,  now  I 
am  all  mixed  up !  " 

"  '  The  quality  of  mercy  is  not  strained.  It 
droppeth  as  the  gentle  rain  from  heaven  upon 
the  place  beneath.  It  is  twice  blessed :  It  blesseth 
him  that  gives  and  him  that  takes,'  "  he  quoted, 
softly. 

"  Yes,  that's  the  one.  Then,  when  you're  a 
judge  we  '11  have  to  say,  '  Good-morning,  Judge !  ' 
and  *  Did  you  sleep  well,  Judge?  '  and  '  Will  you 
have  another  piece  of  pie,  Judge?  '  Wouldn't  that 
sound  funny !  And  judges  could  not  wash  dishes 
and  they  could  not  climb  cherry-trees.  Oh,  now 
I  know!  Portia  said  that  poetry.  If  I'm  Portia, 
will  you  decide  in  my  favor?  "  she  asked. 

"  Yes.     I'll  put  you  beside  me  on  the  bench. 


56  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

You'd  be  the  one  person  who  would  have  a  pull 
with  the  court.  Now,  what  I  have  told  you  is  a  col 
lege  man's  vagaries.  Many  seniors  want  to  re 
form  the  world  at  twenty-two  and  are  working 
hard  in  an  unreformed  world  at  thirty-two  to  pay 
their  bills." 

"  But  you  will  be  a  judge — you  must — and  I'll 
be  Portia — unless  Portia  has  to  know  too  much 
algebra." 

' '  That 's  a  bargain,  or  part  of  what  we  will  call 
our  bargain,  just  between  you  and  me.  We  are 
always  to  be  comrades  and  share  each  other's 
secrets." 

"  Always !    Cross  my  heart,  hope  to " 

* <  Portia  did  not  have  a  ruff,  but  Elizabeth  did, ' ' 
he  said,  playfully  wrapping  her  long  braids 
around  her  neck;  "  but  Elizabeth's  was  false  and 
yours  is  real." 

"  I  promise!  "  she  repeated,  drowsily.  "  And 
I  hope  there  won't  be  any  more  splintered  light 
ning  soon,  and  I — I  love  you  very  much." 

"  Firefly  time,  I  think,"  he  said,  and  carried 
her  to  her  room  door.  "  It's  a  bargain  and  we'll 
share  our  secrets  forever." 

"  Sh-h!  Forever!  "  she  answered.  "  Sh-h!  " 
She  was  awake  enough  to  recall  that  this  was  a 
mysterious,  stealthy  occasion. 


vn 

KNOCKING  ME.   HOBBER  DOWN 

SINCE  the  distressing  news  from  the  West, 
Hiram  Hobber  never  could  sleep  a  wink 
after  cockcrow.  He  always  awoke  with  a 
choking  sensation  and  a  desire  to  choke  Mr.  Jones. 
The  longer  he  lay  in  bed  the  greater  the  desire, 
which  was  without  moral  cause,  as  he  knew.  Mr. 
Jones  had  not  asked  him  to  "  come  in.7'  In  fact, 
at  one  time  Mr.  Hobber  had  been  worried  lest 
there  would  not  be  room  for  him  in  the  mining 
deal.  Thanks  to  this  new  habit  of  early  rising  he 
was  up  when  the  Big  Fellow  called. 

He  had  almost  as  varied  interests  as  Colonel 
Walker,  whom  he  circumspectly  admired:  a  flour 
and  feed  business  with  an  average  of  three  cus 
tomers  a  week,  a  fire  insurance  agency,  and  he 
loaned  a  little  money  on  his  own  account  and  more 
on  that  of  others.  Being  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
unlike  Colonel  Walker  he  did  not  have  to  corrupt 
the  judiciary. 

The  Justice  rather  liked  working  in  the  garden, 
but  he  hated  to  split  wood.  A  big  pile  in  the  yard 
had  been  on  his  conscience  for  a  week,  Mrs.  Hob 
ber  's  nagging  having  kept  the  conscience  sad  com- 

57 


58  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

pany.  This  -morning  he  had  escaped  on  the  plea 
that  he  must  post  up  his  books,  in  which  he  was 
occupied  as  early  as  seven  A.M.,  with  his  ledger  on 
his  lap  and  his  feet  on  the  desk,  while  he  looked 
out  of  the  window. 

"  It's  that  Harden  boy!  "  he  exclaimed,  as  he 
saw  the  supplicant  approach,  and  his  succeeding 
thoughts  may  as  well  be  put  in  quotations :  ' i  Big 
lummox !  Away  to  college  while  his  folks  are  liv 
ing  on  crumbs — don't  know  what  the  world's  com 
ing  to!  Hope  he'll  see  the  gate.  Looks  as  if 
'twould  be  all  the  same  to  him,  the  way  he  swings 
'long,  if  he  walked  right  through  the  fence. 
Comin'  to  see  'bout  that  ewtrest!  Well,  I  guess 
if  his  old  mother  can't  persuade  me,  he  can't.  Not 
a  minute  over  the  thirtieth — not  a  minute.  I'm  a 
good  business  man,  but  I  ain't  stubborn  enough  ' 
— when  stubbornness  was  his  main  characteristic. 
* t  Laughing,  cheerful-looking,  like  he  always  was, ' ' 
Mr.  Hobber  could  not  fail  to  observe,  as  the  Big 
Fellow  entered. 

"  Mornin',  young  man,  mornin'!  How's  your 
mother  and  your  aunt?  Well,  eh?  Glad  to  hear 
it.  And  how's  little  Ellen!  " 

Mr.  Hobber  had  often  observed  that  before 
Colonel  Walker  refused  a  man  anything  he  told  an 
affable  story.  He  had  heard  several  such  on  oc 
casions,  and  always  went  away  feeling  pleased 
and  honored.  ' i  As  Colonel  Walker  was  saying  to 
me  "  was  something  in  stock  for  conversation. 

"  She's  smart  as  a  weasel,  is  little  Ellen.  I 
'member  when  she  had  her  first  penny  to  put  in 


KNOCKING  MR.  HOBBER  DOWN  59 

the  box.  She  held  it  up  high  so  all  could  see,  in 
stead  of  hiding  it.  '  One  for  me,  and  one  for 
Epaminanidad,  who  couldn't  come,'  she  said  so 
loud  you  could  hear  it  all  over  church.  I  snickered 
right  out — couldn't  help  it.  '  I  wanted  him  to  see 
it  wasn't  a  button,'  she  told  her  Aunt  Julia." 

Mr.  Hobber  snickered  again,  presumably  at; 
his  way  of  telling  the  yarn,  and  the  Big  Fellow 
laughed  generously,  which  made  Mr.  Hobber  re 
solve  that  no  one  was  going  to  come  it  over  him 
by  being  good-natured. 

"  Now  that  I  am  back  from  school,"  the  Big 
Fellow  explained,  "  I'm  going  to  look  after  my 
mother's  affairs.  How  much  do  we  owe 
you?  " 

Mr.  Hobber  had  it  on  the  tip  of  his  tongue,  but 
he  took  time  to  open  the  old  safe  and  take  out  the 
books  in  order  to  appear  businesslike. 

"  Six  thousand,  five  hundred  on  the  mortgage, 
an'  entrest,  an'  accrued  ewtrest  on  ewtrest,  total 
of  twelve  hundred  an'  eighty  dollars  an'  thirty- 
five  cents  up  to  June  first,  an'  the  place  wuth 
about  four  thousand." 

"  If  I  paid  you  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  on 
October  first  and  kept  up  the  interest,  would  you 
renew!  " 

"  No,  sir!  My  mind's  made  up.  I've  been  fair 
as  I  could  to  a  fellow  church  member,  but  business 
is  business." 

"  You  have.  You  have  shown  great  generosity. 
I  thank  you  for  it  at  my  first  opportunity.  I  only 
learned  the  true  state  of  affairs  last  night. ' ' 


60  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  You  did,  eh?  '  This  was  big  news  and  news 
was  scarce  in  Bolton.  "  Well,  by  Jing,  ain't  that 
like  Mrs.  Harden!  "  Mr.  Hobber  ejaculated 
slowly. 

"  Looking  at  it  in  a  business  way,  if  you  get  the 
two  hundred  and  fifty  on  October  first,  and 
eventually  all  the  money,  won 't  that  be  better  than 
selling  the  place  for  four  thousand!  Let's  see, 
that 's  a  gain  of  three  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
eighty  dollars." 

"  You  got  that  two  hundred  and  fifty  in 
sight?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  How  you  going  to  get  it?  " 

"  Earn  it." 

"  Got  a  job  in  sight?" 

"  No,  sir." 

"  School-teachin'  don't  pay.  Plenty  of  'em 
for  thirty  a  month ;  three  months,  ninety  dollars— 
and  this  is  vacation  time.  What  you  think  you 
can  do?  " 

' i  Anything  my  brain  or  hand  is  capable  of. ' ' 

"  I  thought  so!  I  thought  so!  "  Then  Mr. 
Hobber  snickered  as  if  he  had  found  something 
too  good  to  keep.  "  Anything — brain  or  hand,  eh? 
Do  you  see  that  wood  pile  out  there?  " 

Indeed,  Mr.  Hobber  was  about  to  call  a  bluff. 

"  Yes.  Do  you  want  it  split?  What  will  you 
give  me?  "  was  the  quick  response. 

"  Dollar  and  a  half.  It's  wuth  it  to  see  a  col 
lege  man  split  wood !  By  Jing,  it  is !  ' 

"  Dinner  included?  " 


KNOCKING  MR.  HOBBER  DOWN  61 

"  Yes." 

The  Big  Fellow  removed  his  coat  and  collar 
and  tackled  the  job  with  a  genuineness  of  en 
thusiasm  and  a  precision  of  execution  that 
promised  to  make  the  game  worth  the  price  of 
admission. 

"  'Tain't  a  sledge  hammer  you've  got!  You're 
cuttin'  right  through  the  knots!  "  called  Mr.  Hob- 
ber  out  of  the  window.  "  If  you  spile  that  axe  I'll 
dock  you  half  a  dollar. ' ' 

11  Tools  furnished!  "  was  the  answer  between 
the  vigorous  blows  which  Mrs.  Hobber  had  heard. 
She  came  out  on  the  back  steps,  hands  upraised 
in  disgust. 

"  Hiram!  "  she  called.  "  Air  you  hirin'  wood 
split  when  business  is  so  dull?  ' 

But  not  a  word  from  Hiram.  She  ran  along  the 
board  walk  to  the  office. 

"  Hiram,  air  you!  ' 

"  Yes,  Mary,  I  am.  I  just  made  up  my  mind 
that  what  with  the  crick  in  my  back  a-hurtin'  me 
the  way  it  does,  an'  loss  of  sleep,  it  was  cheaper 'n 
doctors'  bills." 

The  "  crick  in  my  back  "  excuse  was  reserved 
for  crises.  If  overdone  it  might  lose  value.  Her 
only  protest  was  to  slam  the  door  as  she  returned 
to  the  kitchen.  The  Big  Fellow  dropped  his  axe 
and  followed  her.  When  she  reappeared  his  eye 
met  hers  with  roguish  and  pleasant  inquiry. 

"  I  expect  it's  you  I  ought  to  ask.  Do  I  get  my 
dinner,  Mrs.  Hobber  f  " 

She  had  to  laugh,  though  she  did  not  feel  a  bit 


62  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

like  it,  simply  "  'cause  his  laugh  was  certainly 
catchin',"  as  she  said  afterward. 

"  Yes,  if  Hiram  told  you  so,  you  big "  she 

assented,  without  finishing  the  sentence. 

He  hoped  she  did  not  have  "  big  bluff  "  in 
mind.  That  seemed  hardly  fair  to  a  man  splitting 
wood  on  a  hot  June  day. 

Mrs.  Hobber  was  nearsighted  and  the  connec 
tion  of  young  Harden  with  a  day's  odd  job  was  a 
wide  one  for  her  imagination.  When  she  found 
who  he  was — and  it  was  on  account  of  not  having 
her  glasses,  as  she  explained,  that  she  had  not 
recognized  him — she  had  him  in  to  dinner  at  the 
first  table  like  real  company. 

"  We  hope  you  don't  contemplate  movin'  away 
from  Boltonf  "  she  suggested,  unable  to  avoid 
this  coming  sensation  of  the  town  not  yet  cir 
culated. 

"  Oh,  no!  "  said  the  Big  Fellow.  "  We're  go 
ing  to  stay  in  the  old  place.  I'm  going  to  arrange 
that  with  Mr.  Hobber." 

Mrs.  Hobber,  aghast,  caught  Mr.  Hobber 's  eye. 

1  i  No,  he  ain't ! ' '  Mr.  Hobber  declared,  definitely. 

The  Big  Fellow  smiled  at  Mr.  Hobber  in  sur 
prise  and  continued  to  be  amiable  through  the 
meal.  By  four  o'clock,  his  hands  blistered  and 
the  back  of  his  neck  sunburned,  but  little  fatigued, 
his  task  was  finished.  Mr.  Hobber  had  the  dollar 
and  a  half  in  fifty-cent  pieces  ready. 

"  Keep  it  on  account,"  said  the  creditor. 
' l  That  leaves  two  hundred  and  forty-eight  dollars 
and  fifty  cents  to  be  paid  by  October  first." 


KNOCKING  MR.  HOBBER  DOWN  63 

"  There  ain't  any  sech  agreement!  "  snapped 
Mr.  Hobber. 

The  Big  Fellow  seemed  to  think  that  this  was 
not  a  matter  to  argue  at  present,  for  he  sat  down 
at  Mr.  Hobber 's  desk  and  asked  for  a  couple  of 
sheets  of  paper,  and  the  Justice  of  the  Peace  in 
dicated  a  pigeonhole  where  he  kept  his  foolscap. 

1  i  W-what  are  you  going  to  do  1  ' '  he  asked. 

"  It  will  take  only  a  few  minutes, "  the  Big 
Fellow  rejoined,  reassuringly. 

Mr.  Hobber  was  dumbstruck  and  curious.  He 
had  nothing  to  do  but  submit.  Using  the  wooden 
rule  the  Big  Fellow  tore  off  a  strip  the  breadth  of 
a  check  and  in  one  corner  Mr.  Hobber  saw  him 
write  $248.50  and  in  the  other  the  date.  Then  Mr. 
Hobber  told  himself  that  his  mind  was  made  up. 
Nothing  could  shake  it  and  he  ought  not  to  be 
spying  on  a  neighbor  who  had  borrowed  his  desk 
for  a  minute.  So  he  looked  out  of  the  window  at 
the  pile  of  split  wood  and  began  talking  un 
consciously. 

"  Three  cords  in  seven  hours!  That's  perty 
fast,  Mr.  Harden,  perty  fast!  Took  some  ath 
letics  at  college,  I  guess.  Did  you  wear  one 
of  them  sweaters  with  a  letter  on  it?  " — which 
he  imagined  was  in  the  Colonel's  best  style  of 
affability. 

"  Yes,  Mr.  Hobber,"  and  a  laugh  was  the  only 
response  from  the  Big  Fellow,  who  had  scarcely 
heard  him. 

Mr.  Hobber  looked  the  figure  up  and  down,  from 
the  broad  forehead  to  the  chair  bottom  where  the 


64  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

pillar  was  solidly  based.  Scratch,  scratch,  the 
fingers,  almost  imperceptibly  moving,  drove  the 
pen.  If  the  Big  Fellow  had  leaned  over  the  blotter 
and  written  excitedly  he  would  not  have  been 
so  peculiarly  disconcerting  to  Mr.  Hobber.  It, 
looked  as  if  he  were  capable  either  of  writing  or 
splitting  wood  right  through  eternity.  The  nar 
row  sheet  was  signed  and  finished  and  laid  to  one 
side.  Mr.  Hobber  saw  that  the  other  began  with 
' '  This  agreement. ' '  Half-way  down  the  page  the 
Big  Fellow  broke  the  last  of  solid  ranks  of  lines 
and  below  it,  without  a  flourish  but  in  the  same 
small,  copperplate  hand,  wrote  "  James  Harden," 
blotting  the  whole  with  a  deliberation  that  height 
ened  the  spectator's  nervousness.  Then  that 
human  pillar  rose  and  concentrated  its  attention* 
on  Mr.  Hobber. 

"  Now,  sir,"  the  Big  Fellow  informed  him, 
"  youth  and  determination  represent  capital  and 
an  investment  worth  the  staking  of  three  months' 
interest  for  a  gain  of  over  three  thousand  dollars. 
You  have  my  note  of  hand  to  pay  you  two  hundred 
and  forty-eight  dollars  and  fifty  cents,  due  on 
October  first,  which  you  can  always  hold  against 
me.  This  agreement  covers  the  arrangement  for 
renewal  of  the  mortgage  if  the  money  is  paid. ' ' 

There  was  a  finality  in  the  Big  Fellow's  man 
ner.  It  seemed  useless  to  argue  with  him. 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  Hobber,  "  well— let  me  see 
the  agreement."  He  was  curious. 

"  Yes,  certainly,  you  sign  right  there."  Big 
pointed  to  the  place  encouragingly. 


KNOCKING  MR.  HOBBER  DOWN  65 

"  Why  don't  you  try  bein'  a  book  agent?  "  Mr. 
Hobber  grumbled,  as  he  read  the  correct  and  clear 
phrasing. 

"  I  shan't  forget  your  liberality  in  this,"  the 
Big  Fellow  proceeded.  "  I  thank  you  for  my 
mother  and  myself." 

Then  Mr.  Hobber  did  realize  that  the  Big  Fel 
low  had  won. 

"  Well,  I  hope  I've  got  a  heart,  young  man,  I 
hope  I  have,"  Mr.  Hobber  congratulated  himself. 
61  Now  you'll  have  to  make  another  copy  of  this. 
You'll  want  one  yourself." 

"  No,  Mr.  Hobber.  When  you've  waited  for  us 
all  these  years  your  word  is  enough. ' ' 

<  <  Well— I "  Mr.  Hobber  was  a  <  '  black  and 

white  "  man.  He  wanted  everything  "  down  in 
writin'  so  there 'd  be  no  gettin'  'round  it."  This 
confidence  in  him  inspired  confidence.  His  blood 
flowed  faster.  And  what  was  it  that  the  Big  Fel 
low  had  told  Miss  Two  Braids  about  getting  the 
good  out  of  men  for  good  ends!  Mr.  Hobber 
tore  up  the  note  and  the  agreement. 

"  An'  your  word  is  good  enough  for  me,"  he 
said.  "  But,  young  man,  if  it  ain't  paid  on  the 
thirtieth  it's  the  hammer.  I'm  older 'n  you  are, 
an'  let  me  tell  you  if  it  ain't  paid  you're  a  worse 
loser  than  I  am.  Your  character  will  be  a 
durn  poor  investment  thereafter.  Good  luck  to 
ye!" 

"  Oh,  yes,  you  keep  the  dollar  and  a  half!  "  the 
wood  chopper  protested  merrily,  when  it  was 
offered  again. 


66  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  Whatever  you  do  don't  ever  speculate — in 
mines,"  Mr.  Hobber  called  to  him  from  the  door 
way.  "  Magnetism,  I  guess,"  was  his  final  ex 
planation  of  the  day's  phenomenon.  "  That  boy 
ought  to  go  into  politics,," 


VIII 


TWO   LITTLE   PRAYERS 


"  TT'S  ours!    We  stay!  "  he  shouted  from  the 
gate  on  his  return  from  Mr.  Hobber's. 

"  Ours!  We  stay!  "  Miss  Two  Braids 
cried,  running  to  meet  him.  "  Oh,  I  knew  you'd 
do  it,  Jim!  " 

The  two  old  ladies,  from  the  reaction  of  that 
brave  effort  they  had  made  to  be  philosophical 
over  the  loss  of  the  old  place,  broke  into  tears 
which,  when  they  stopped  flowing,  made  their 
eyes  the  brighter  with  happiness. 

66  We'll  have  two  kinds  of  preserves  for  sup 
per,"  declared  Miss  Two  Braids,  "  and  let  you  fill 
the  sugar  bowl  with  tea,  and  you  can  wear  my 
long-stringed  apron,  Mister  Ninety  in  Calculus." 

According  to  Big's  own  easy  story  of  the  affair, 
Hiram  was  the  most  reasonable  of  men,  who  had 
made  the  concession  entirely  on  Madame  Mother's 
account  as  soon  as  he  knew  that  the  bookish  son 
was  willing  to  work. 

i  i  You  squeezed  him  against  the  wall,  and  when 
he  said  he  would  be  good  you  let  him  go,  I  know," 
said  Miss  Two  Braids,  who  held  a  different 
view. 

67 


68  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

Madame  Mother  thought  that  her  hero,  after 
his  triumph,  would  remain  a  few  days  at  home. 
It  never  occurred  to  her  that  he  would  depart 
immediately,  as  he  must,  he  knew,  if  he  were  to 
earn  the  two  hundred  and  forty-eight  dollars  and 
fifty  cents  by  October  first. 

Was  it  a  sense  of  incapability  of  explaining  his 
impatience?  Was  it  a  scarcely  defined  wish  to 
avoid  the  emotion  of  a  long-drawn  farewell  that 
made  him  keep  his  plan  to  start  for  the  city  at 
once  from  both  mother  and  aunt  ?  Or,  more  likely, 
was  it  the  sentimental  wish  that  his  good-by 
glimpse  of  them  should  be  as  they  ascended  the 
stairs,  candles  in  hand,  that  evening!  Yet  he  did 
tell  his  new  partner  in  all  secrets  that  he  was  off 
at  four  the  next  morning. 

"  I  feel  as  I  did  before  a  football  game  began, " 
he  explained.  "  I  want  to  be  at  it  and  I've  no 
time  to  lose.  I'll  get  a  cup  of  coffee  at  Stottstown 
while  the  train  waits.  No  one  need  get  up." 

But  she  was  standing  at  the  stairs'  head  with 
a  shawl  thrown  over  her  shoulders  when  he  came 
out  of  his  room.  In  the  break  of  dawn  he  saw  her 
eyes  glistening.  He  felt  her  hand,  warm  and  soft, 
in  his. 

"  Portia  believes  in  you,"  she  said.  "  You'll 
win." 

"  That's  half,"  he  answered. 

"  And,  Jim,  I  want  to  speak  to  you  about  the 
prayers.  We  always  mention  you  regularly  in 
family  prayers,  of  course.  But  family  prayers 
seem  so  professional." 


TWO  LITTLE  PRAYERS  69 

"  Ellen!  "  he  whispered,  in  Aunt  Julia's  best 
manner. 

"  And,  Jim,  I  just  want  to  tell  you  I'm  going 
to  say  two  little  prayers  all  by  myself  every  night 
—little  prayers  without  the  usual  what  you  call 
formalities,  little  prayers  that  mean  all  my  heart. 
First,  it'll  be  just  for  you,  and  next  that  the  love 
of  the  law  will  never  make  you  forget  love  of  your 
Two  Braids." 

He  was  always  to  remember  that  speech.  It 
had  a  potent  influence  in  his  life,  like  Mr.  Hob- 
ber's  remark  about  proving  his  character  by  pay 
ing  that  two  hundred  and  forty-eight  dollars  and 
fifty  cents  on  time.  She  was  always  to  remember 
it,  too,  but  through  what  varying  emotions! 

"  And  you'll  never  forget  to  love  me,  Two 
Braids?  "  which  she  was  to  remember,  also. 
"  And  I  have  a  plan.  You  must  always  go  for 
the  mail;  or,  if  you  can't,  strike  a  bargain 
with  Pam  when  he  goes.  This  is  to  be  a  real 
conspiracy. ' ' 

"  Sh-h!  "  said  Miss  Two  Braids,  all  interest, 
but  aware  that  conspiracies  ought  to  be  whis 
pered. 

"  I'll  write  you  the  real  truth  always  in  let 
ters  especially  addressed  to  you,  because  you  will 
believe  that  everything  is  coming  out  all  right. 
The  real  truth  will  be  funny  sometimes,  too,  I 
expect.  But  I'm  going  to  write  Madame  Mother 
cheerful  letters." 

"  M-m-m!  Professionally  cheerful  letters,  like 
the  family  prayers  are  professionally  solemn." 


70  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  You're  to  help  by  keeping  her  in  good  spirits. 
Is  that  agreed?  " 

"M-m-m!  I'll  write  often.  Good-by,  Jim— 
and,  Jim,  remember  when  the  lightning  splinters 
it  doesn't  strike.  It  only  makes  you  tingle.  And 
remember  I'm  a  little  girl  full  of  tingles  in  this 
old  house  all  alone  with  two  old  ladies,  and 
sometimes  I  —  but  you'll  win  —  you'll  win!  " 
were  her  last  words  following  him  down  the 
stairs. 

Whose  was  this  figure  that  the  Big  Fellow  saw 
from  the  porch,  waiting  with  one  black  hand  on 
the  dew-sprinkled  white  gate!  There  was  no  mis 
taking  Epaminanidad's  identity. 

"  Lemme  carry  yo'  bag,  Mistah  Jim.  Yissah, 
don'  yo'  worry.  Yo'  won'  miss  yo'  train.  I  kin 
keep  up.  Thought  yo'd  get  away  'thout  Pam 
knowin'  it,  didn'  you'?  Couldn'  fool  me!  I  had 
'spishuns,  an'  'spishuns  allus  keep  me  'wake.  I 
seen  yo'  candlelight  an'  I  jes'  stockin '-footed  it 
downstairs  an'  there  I  waited." 

Big  was  immeasurably  pleased  to  know  that 
one  who  did  not  fear  to  despise  the  Greeks  should 
remember  him  in  this  way.  A  robin  ran  along 
beside  them  and  they  saw  him  get  the  early  worm, 
which  augured  well  for  a  giant  who  had  risen 
early  to  make  a  start  in  the  world.  Youth  and 
enterprise  and  hope  were  in  the  fresh  morning 
air. 

"  Pam,  I've  got  an  engagement  with  the  city," 
said  Youth.  "  The  city  doesn't  know  it  yet,  but 


TWO  LITTLE  PRAYERS  71 

somebody  in  the  city  will  about  four  this  after 
noon.  I'll  not  be  disappointed  if  the  Mayor  and 
a  band  are  not  at  the  station.  And,  Pam,  you're 
to  help  the  folks  at  home  all  you  can." 

i  i  Yissah.  I  'spect  to  get  mah  mind  a-tuned  up  all 
c'rect  an'  regain  confidence  again  so  dey'll  lemme 
wash  de  dishes.  An',  Mistah  Jim,  I  t'ink  soon's 
yo'  has  a  few  dollahs  to  spare  as  how  it's  bet- 
tah  to  buy  a  cow  fust  an'  let  de  lawn  mo  wall 
wait. 

"  Ise  been  t'inkin'  'bout  dat  an'  I'll  'splain. 
A  lawn  mowah  on'y  eats  grass  an'  don'  give  no 
milk,  an'  while  a  lawn  mowah 's  mo'  stylish  'n  a 
cow  it  ain't  so  reas'nable  nor  so  practicable — not 
fo'  us.  An'  I  don'  b'lieve  yo'  know  it,  but  Ise  got 
quite  a  business  haid,  I  has.  I  reckon  I  kin  sell 
milk  miff  to  pay  fo'  dat  cow,  yissah,  I  kin,  jes' 
as  easy,  jes'  as  easy.  Ise  gwine  to  call  her  El- 
liz-a-buth,  jes'  like  de  odder,  on'y  stid  o'  Betty  Ise 
gwine  to  call  her  Liz  fo'  short,  out  o'  'spect  to 
Betty  an'  fo'  diffrunce's  sake." 

In  less  than  three  days  after  Willy  Sweet- 
ser  had  interrupted  him  at  packing,  the  Big  Fel 
low  had  been  home  and  departed.  This  time  he 
was  no  self-borne  caravan,  but  light  artillery, 
with  one  small  valise,  equipped  for  the  charge. 

Many  journeys  he  was  to  make :  To  Washington, 
with  Willy  Sweetser's  passionate  telegrams  fol 
lowing;  to  the  old  front  porch  in  Bolton,  to  be 
told  where  the  path  of  duty  lay;  across  distant 
seas  at  the  call  of  Miss  Destiny;  through  the 


72  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

jungle  in  the  night  in  the  name  of  a  friend  and  a 
policy;  and  home  again,  when  he  was  to  know  that 
honors  of  state  are  empty  until  a  great  thing 
comes  true  to  a  man  whose  hair  is  turning  gray. 
But  first  to  the  first  journey. 


IX 

THAT   PLUS   SIG1* 

HAVE  you  ever  asked  yourself  how  you 
would  earn  a  living  if  you  should  alight 
at  the  Union  Station  of  a  large  city  with 
out  friends  or  money  or  trade  or  profession? 
Try  the  experience  some  time!  For  bad  cases 
of  self-esteem  it  has  remarkable  curative  prop 
erties.  But  first  be  sure  that  your  soles  are  thick. 

An  A.B.  from  a  university  may  prove  to  be  of 
less  practical  value,  as  well  it  ought  in  many  in 
stances,  than  a  membership  card  of  good  standing 
in  the  Lathers'  Union.  You  will  find  how  help 
less  most  of  us  are  when  we  think  we  are  quite 
independent;  how,  in  our  most  extravagant  mo 
ments  of  fancied  courage  and  self-sufficiency,  we 
still  cling  to  a  connection  with  a  bank  account  or 
with  somebody  who  has  one. 

To  return  to  first  principles,  what  is  a  living? 
The  thing  that  makes  physical  existence  possible, 
you  may  say.  An  easy  definition,  susceptible  of 
any  interpretation,  is  that  it  is  something  rela 
tive  which  you  must  have  in  order  to  exist  ac 
cording  to  your  personal  idea  of  existence.  To 
Homer  it  was  a  blanket,  a  handful  of  olives,  a 
crust,  and  a  place  by  the  wayside.  To  a  million- 

73 


74  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

aire  it  is  a  private  car,  servants,  and  worries.  In 
our  northern  climate  Homer  would  either  have 
had  to  live  at  a  Mills  Hotel  or  tramp  to  California 
before  he  could  gain  the  capital  which  would 
enable  him  to  burst  into  song. 

In  the  same  way,  before  he  could  be  either  as 
good  or  as  wise  as  the  books  he  had  been  study 
ing,  the  Big  Fellow  must  have  food  and  shelter. 
So  he  left  the  books  at  home  in  the  unopened  soap 
and  catsup  boxes.  How  much  easier  it  would  have 
been  for  him  if  he  had  begun  life  as  an  office  boy 
at  ten !  Then  failure  to  get  a  job  promptly  when 
suddenly  cast  on  his  own  resources  at  twenty-two 
would  have  interested  no  one;  for  if  anybody 
ought  to  know  how  to  get  a  job,  society  would  say, 
it  should  be  a  former  office  boy  with  twelve  years ' 
knowledge  of  the  game  to  his  credit. 

At  alumni,  banquets  speakers  are  ever  declaring 
that  in  the  course  of  a  decade  or  so  the  graduate 
overtakes  and  passes  in  the  race  for  success  the 
man  who  never  went  to  college.  A  decade  was  not 
in  the  vocabulary  of  Jim  Harden,  of  '88,  who  had 
to  earn  two  hundred  and  forty-eight  dollars  and 
fifty  cents,  plus  his  bed  and  board,  in  three 
months.  One  plus  sign  can  make  one  month  a 
thousand  and  all  alumni  orations  ridiculous. 

This  amount  he  might  have  borrowed  from  col 
lege  friends  in  small  sums,  with  an  increase  of 
bookkeeping  and  temporary  peace  of  mind.  But 
that  did  not  occur  to  him.  He  had  set  himself 
a  "  stent,"  as  Hiram  Hobber  would  have  it;  and 
he  was  a  big,  stubborn,  good-natured,  absent* 


THAT  PLUS  SIGN  75 

minded,  bookish  kind  of  a  man,  as  Mrs.  Billings 
could  have  told  you,  who  had  less  than  five  dollars 
in  his  pocket  when  he  passed  out  of  the  station 
into  a  city  where  he  literally  had  no  friend,  unless 
Colonel  Walker  counted  as  one. 

He  lacked  any  definite  idea  as  to  what  he  was 
going  to  do  except  to  find  work,  which,  to  return 
to  Mrs.  Billings,  only  went  to  prove  what  an 
impractical  fool  of  an  oil-burner  he  was,  who 
ought  never  to  have  been  allowed  out  of  her  sight ; 
and  this  being  true,  why,  it  only  makes  that  plus 
sign  as  big  as  the  hands  of  a  cathedral  clock,  not 
to  say  that  it  justified  Mrs.  Hobber  in  calling 
Hiram  an  "  old  softy." 

But  there  is  an  occupation  without  caste,  its 
tenets  dictated  by  no  professional  school  or  trade- 
union  stamp,  which  draws  penniless  graduates 
into  its  ruck  of  day-by-day  battle  for  quick  re 
wards  in  the  headlines  of  to-morrow.  The  Big 
Fellow  had  heard  that  editors  would  give  a  man 
a  trial  with  a  prospector's  hope  of  discovering 
someone  with  the  trick  of  style  or  of  playing  up 
an  event  that  would  make  the  public  read. 

Leaving  his  valise  in  a  twenty-five-cent  room, 
he  started  in  to  make  the  round  of  the  news 
papers.  It  was  a  study  in  office  boys  who  came 
out  to  say  that  the  city  editor  was  busy — sallow 
office  boys,  chubby  office  boys,  simply  saucy  office 
boys.  On  each  occasion  he  went  past  the  plate- 
glass  window  of  the  mighty  cashier's  stall,  the 
"  Want  "  and  "  Information  "  desks  of  the  busi 
ness  office,  up  a  flight  of  rickety  stairs  out  of  that 


76  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

atmosphere  of  thrift  into  a  dingy  anteroom,  and 
here,  through  the  inner  door  when  it  was  opened, 
he  saw,  in  the  haze  of  tobacco  smoke,  cartoons  and 
colored  prints  and  photographs  pasted  on  the 
walls  and  men  in  shirt-sleeves  at  desks. 

Had  he  been  worldly  wise  he  would  have  asked 
the  city  editor's  name  of  "  Information."  Then 
he  would  have  entered  the  editorial  rooms  as  if 
he  belonged  there  and  asked  the  first  reporter, 
"  Which  is  Mr.  So-and-So!  "  and  the  reporter 
would  have  nodded  toward  one  of  the  cluster  of 
desks. 

He  had  tried  five  of  the  six  papers  in  the  town. 
The  sixth  was  The  Beacon.  Here  an  unusual  type 
of  office  boy  appeared.  He  was  not  chewing  gum. 
He  was  unusual,  too,  in  that  he  looked  the  Big 
Fellow  directly  in  the  eye  and  said:  "  Yes,  sir. 
What  is  it  ?  "  His  spectacles  and  his  bulging  fore 
head  made  him  seem  elfish  and  old-mannish,  and 
his  legs  inside  the  carefully  patched  stockings 
were  distressingly  thin. 

'  '  I  am  looking  for  work, ' '  said  the  Big  Fellow. 
He  always  began  that  way.  It  exactly  expressed 
his  desire.  But  it  was  a  bad  way,  though  he  spoke 
as  if  the  request  were  too  reasonable  to  be  denied. 
"I'd  like  to  see  the  city  editor,"  he  added. 

"  Yes,  sir." 

The  spectacled  boy  disappeared  with  his  name, 
which  might  as  well  have  been  John  Jones,  and 
the  Big  Fellow  sat  down  on  a  green-painted  deal 
bench  and  wondered  why  this  anteroom  enjoyed 
the  luxury  of  a  relic  still  recognizable  as  a  chair, 


THAT  PLUS  SIGN  77 

whose  broken  seat  of  cane  had  been  re-enforced 
by  piling  in  many  Sunday  editions.  His  musing 
hypothesis  was  that  it  was  a  derelict  drifted  out 
of  the  editorial  rooms  to  this  beach  before  break 
ing  up,  which  is  right  as  far  as  anybody  knows. 
The  spectacled  boy  was  back  quicker  than  the 
other  boys.  He  had  not  stopped  on  the  way  to 
make  a  paper  wad  or  give  a  wire  file  a  whirl  on 
its  standard. 

"  Mr.  Booth  is  very  sorry,  sir,  but  he  can't 
take  anybody  on  just  at  present, "  was  the  respect 
ful  and  considerate  report. 

"  Did  he  really  say  he  was  very  sorry!  "  asked 
the  Big  Fellow,  in  human  curiosity.  The  answer 
he  had  anticipated.  There  was  no  disappoint 
ment  in  that. 

"  No,  sir,  he  didn't.  I  guess  he  is,  though, 
when  he  isn't  too  busy.  Anyway,  I  always  say 
it  that  way,  'cause — 'cause  I  kind  of  like  to  make 
it  easier,  there's  so  many  comes  in." 

The  Big  Fellow  broke  into  a  laugh,  partly  over 
this  old,  young,  sage  boy  and  partly  over  his  own 
ridiculous  position.  A  laugh  always  helped  him 
when  he  was  blue.  Kiddy  Witherbee  dropped 
back  a  step,  as  startled  as  if  a  peaceable  mountain 
in  a  serene  landscape  had  suddenly  burst  forth 
in  fireworks. 

"  My!  You  are  big — phew!  "  gasped  Kiddy. 
"  I  wonder  if  I'll  ever  be  half  so  big.  Mother 
says  it's  because  I  work  nights,  but  you  have  to 
work  somewhere  when  times  are  hard,  don't  you! 
Say,  I'm  going  in  and  speak  to  Mr.  Booth  again. 


78  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

I  didn't  tell  him  how  big  you  was."  At  the  door, 
squinting  through  his  glasses  with  a  wise  shake 
of  his  head,  he  added :  l '  Say,  if  you  would  laugh 
that  way  to  Mr.  Booth  you'd  attract  attention  and 
he  might  take  you  on.  I'd  like  to  see  a  man  who 
can  laugh  like  you  can  in  this  office.  It's  not  the 
size  of  the  laugh  so  much  as  the  happy  ring  in 
it  that  I  think  is  just  great.  Come  on  in!  I'll 
stand  for  that,  myself. ' ' 

"  I  can't  promise  about  the  laugh.  That  comes 
only  with  inspiration,  my  boy, ' '  said  the  Big  Fel 
low.  "  I  can't  do  it  to  order,  you  see,  like  an 
actor." 

Kiddy  Witherbee  led  the  way  into  the  room 
where  some  of  the  reporters  were  waiting  on  their 
"  first  stories  "  of  the  day  and  others  were  idling. 
They  looked  at  the  Big  Fellow  and  guessed  "  col 
lege  ' '  with  their  quick  intuition,  and  one,  a  college 
man,  said,  in  that  day  of  heavy  center  rushes: 
i  i  What  a  center  rush !  ' 

"  I  think  he  is  a  good  one,  Mr.  Booth.  Look 
how  big  he  is,  and  my!  but  his  laugh  makes  you 
feel  rested!  "  Kiddy  whispered  in  the  city  edi 
tor's  ear. 

As  he  bent  over  a  piece  of  flimsy,  the  only  visi 
ble  portions  of  Mr.  Booth's  personality  were  a 
blue-striped  shirt  with  the  sleeves  rolled  up,  a 
corncob  pipe,  a  piece  of  unshaven  chin,  a  green 
eye-shade  under  a  touseled  thatch  of  hair  in  close 
proximity  to  an  electric-light  bulb,  while  his 
fingers  drove  a  blue  pencil  in  a  race  against  time 
with  swift  left-to-right  slides  through  the  lines 


THAT  PLUS  SIGN  79 

of  lean,  telegraphese  chirography.  For  a  second 
the  pencil  would  pause  in  consideration.  Then 
it  would  write  a  few  words  making  a  connection 
in  sense  across  a  chasm  between  two  sentences 
whose  life  he  had  spared,  or  it  would  eliminate  a 
prolix  relative  clause  with  as  little  mercy  as  King 
Kichard  III.  disposed  of  his  princely  relatives  in 
the  play. 

"  Here,  Jersey,  I  guess  that's  good  for  half  a 
head,"  he  said,  with  a  final  flourish,  as  he  passed 
it  to  a  man  at  a  neighboring  desk.  * '  What  papers 
have  you  been  on?  "  he  asked  the  Big  Fellow,  as 
he  seized  another  piece  of  copy. 

This  was  the  point  for  the  Big  Fellow  to  make 
his  play;  it  was  exactly  the  place  where  Kiddy 
wanted  the  laugh.  He  did  not  dare  speak  his 
wish,  but  he  did  nudge  his  candidate  in  the  leg, 
which  seemed  such  an  enormous,  hard  leg  to  him, 
and  further  excited  his  admiration.  If  the  Big 
Fellow  understood,  he  failed  to  act  on  the  hint. 

"  I  'm  just  out  of  college  two  days  ago.  I  wrote 
college  affairs  for  the  New  York  Record  and  the 
Boston  Onlooker,"  he  answered,  simply. 

"  Those  obits!  "  mused  the  city  editor. 

"I  beg  pardon!  Those  what!  "  asked  the 
Big  Fellow.  He  was  interested.  Without  being 
asked  he  seated  himself  on  a  vacant  chair  beside 
Mr.  Booth. 

11  Oh,  I  called  them  obits  because  they  never 
print  any  news.  I'm  sorry,  but  we're  not  taking 
on  any  more  men  now  '  —and  he  returned  to  the 
charge  with  the  blue  pencil. 


80  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

When  he  had  finished  with  that  particular  piece 
of  flimsy,  an  island  of  four  lines  in  the  center  of 
a  gridiron  field  remained.  Rereading  them,  he 
seemed  to  be  struck  with  wonder  at  how  they 
had  escaped.  He  crumpled  the  "  story"  in  a 
wad  and  threw  it  into  the  general  waste  basket, 
which  was  the  floor. 

"  I  object  to  petrified  misinformation  from  the 
dark  ages  of  last  Monday!  "  he  muttered.  Then 
he  glanced  up. 

The  Big  Fellow  was  still  seated,  calm  as  Bud 
dha.  He  looked  as  if  he  were  going  to  stay 
forever. 

"  You  surprise  me!  "  he  remarked.  "  I  didn't 
know  before  that  the  Record  never  printed  any 
news.  They  wrote  me  in  their  instructions  that 
that  was  what  they  wanted  me  to  look  after." 

For  the  first  time  Mr.  Booth  scrutinized  the  Big 
Fellow  up  and  down.  He  grinned  and  put  out 
his  hand  for  a  typewritten  slip,  which  he  ran 
through  as  he  whirled  around  in  his  chair. 

"  Now,  if  you  would  give  me  a  trial,"  sug 
gested  the  Big  Fellow,  amiably;  and,  though  he 
did  not  say  so,  he  appeared  to  be  thinking :  * '  Why, 
I'll  not  sit  here  the  whole  evening  unoccupied 
when  you're  too  busy  to  talk  to  me." 

The  city  editor  made  no  answer,  unless  he  con 
sidered  talking  about  another  incident  to  be  in 
the  nature  of  one. 

"  Here's  a  tip  with  about  one  chance  in  a  thou 
sand  of  not  being  a  fake.  According  to  this,  some 
of  the  water  rats  down  on  the  river  front  have 


THAT  PLUS  SIGN  81 

organized  a  Black  Hand  gang  and  they're  serv 
ing  notice  on  the  unpopular  boys.  They  pushed 
little  Eddy  Smith  off  a  pier  last  night  and 
drowned  him.  Spader!  " 

"  Spader's  at  the  City  Hall,  sir,"  said  Kiddy 
Witherbee,  keeper  of  the  roll. 

There  was  the  Big  Fellow,  though  he  had  been 
told  that  no  new  men  were  wanted,  still  seated 
and  smiling.  It  looked  as  if  the  only  way  to  get 
him  started  was  to  send  for  the  safe-moving 
gang. 

"  Everybody  that's  any  good  on  that  kind  of  a 
story's  out,"  Booth  remarked.  "  You  might  try 
this,  if  you  like,  Mr.  Harden.  It  will  show  what 
you  can  do,  and  then,  if  there  is  an  opening— 

"  I'll  do  my  best!  "  was  the  grateful  answer. 

"  Have  him  pushed  if  you  can.  It's  more  in 
teresting  than  if  he  fell, ' '  Kiddy  whispered,  as  the 
Big  Fellow  went  out. 

But  Eddy  Smith  had  not  been  pushed.  He  had 
fallen.  It  happened  that  some  of  his  playmates 
had  been  overheard  saying  that  he  was  "  N.G." 
and  ought  to  be  ducked.  If  this  part  had  been 
"  played  up,"  results  for  the  Big  Fellow  might 
have  been  different. 

It  was  after  eight  when  he  returned.  Industri 
ously  he  wrote  for  an  hour,  while  Kiddy  Wither 
bee,  a  self-appointed,  elfish  satellite  of  bigness, 
sat  on  the  edge  of  the  desk  between  errands.  All 
the  facts  were  fully  and  faithfully  set  down. 
Hopefully,  the  neophyte  laid  the  finished  copy  on 
the  city  editor's  desk  and  looked  in  vain  for  any 


82  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

sign  in  the  touseled  hair  and  green  eye-shade 
while  the  mighty  man  read  it  through. 

"  Mr.  Harden,"  was  the  verdict,  in  a  kindlier 
tone  than  Booth  had  used  before,  "  looking  at  it 
from  the  newspaper  viewpoint,  a  great  many  little 
boys  are  drowned  every  year.  The  first  one  in 
May  may  be  worth  a  head,  but  by  the  last  week 
in  June  it's  an  old  story.  There  wasn't  any 
thing  particularly  striking  about  the  way  Eddy 
went.  What  you  have  written  is  a  beautiful  piece 
of  evidence.  It  covers  the  whole  case.  It  reads 
like  the  Supreme  Court.  Here,  Thompson,  make 
two  sticks  of  this.  Begin  with  i  He  ought  to  be 
drowned.'  " 

"  Ducked!  "  put  in  the  Big  Fellow,  honestly. 

i  l  Drowned  is  more  interesting,  but,  as  you  say, 
'  ducked  '  is  right,  Mr.  Harden.  Begin  it,  Thomp 
son,  '  "  He  ought  to  be  ducked,"  said  the  gang 
of  boys  with  whom  Eddy  Smith  played,  and  that 
night  little  Eddy  Smith  was  dead.'  Hang  the 
whole  story  on  that  idea,  Thompson — and  I'm 
afraid,  Mr.  Harden,  to  be  honest  with  you,  that 
you'll  have  to  learn  a  good  deal  before  you'll 
make  a  newspaper  man." 

"  Yes,"  the  Big  Fellow  assented,  "  I  guess  I'm 
more  in  the  draught-horse  line;"  and  there  he 
had  seated  himself  again  as  if  he  proposed  to 
begin  the  subject  afresh.  "  Now,  don't  you  need 
a  man  that  can  get  facts  and  write  them  out  in 
full?  " 

"  Oh,  yes.  Unfortunately,  just  now,  as  I  said, 
we're  full  up.  If  you'd  like  to  drop  in  evenings 


THAT  PLUS  SIGN  83 

and  ask  I  might  give  you  something  in — in  your 
line.  But  don't  base  any  hopes  on  that.  Get  an 
other  berth  if  you  can.  This  would  be  only  an 
occasional  dollar  assignment." 

Booth,  who  had  never  experienced  such  a 
feeling  before,  felt  a  little  ashamed  to  men 
tion  so  small  a  sum  as  one  dollar  to  such  a  big 
man. 

"  Anyway,  it's  one  hundred  cents  "  (which 
sounded  larger).  "  Glad  to  have  met  you,  Mr. 
Harden." 

"  You  come  and  keep  coming,"  whispered 
Kiddy  Witherbee,  at  the  door.  "  I'll  keep  an  eye 
out  for  you.  I'll  be  what  they  call  a  friend  at 
court." 

An  occasional  dollar  would  never  do.  The  Big 
Fellow  faced  the  truth  unflinchingly  at  once. 
There  was  some  kind  of  pony-trick  business  in 
newspaper  work  for  which  a  draught  horse  was 
too  stupid.  As  he  went  down  the  stairs  to  the 
business  office  he  thought  of  the  "  Help  Wanted  " 
advertisements.  Why  not  try  them!  he  asked 
himself,  and  then  he  noted  some  other  members 
of  the  army  of  unemployed  painfully  looking  over 
the  files.  They  were  bloodless  men  in  frayed 
coats  and  soiled  white  collars,  bearing  the  scars 
which  the  battle  of  life  leaves  in  every  line  of 
the  face.  He  turned  away  from  them,  not  in  re 
pugnance,  but  with  the  grateful  thought  that  he 
possessed  something  that  they  lacked.  He  had 
physical  strength.  That  he  could  capitalize,  if 
not  knowledge  of  the  Eoman  law.  His  duty  was 


84  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

not  to  wait  for  work,  but  to  get  work  promptly 
at  anything. 

From  the  door  of  The  Beacon  office  he  saw 
down  the  street,  under  the  flare  of  gas  torches,  a 
score  or  more  of  laborers  tearing  up  the  pave 
ment  for  a  new  trolley  line.  He  felt  of  his  biceps 
as  he  walked  toward  them.  All  his  confidence  re 
turned.  An  unshaven  man  standing  on  a  pile  of 
earth,  his  hands  in  his  pockets,  watching  the  gang, 
was  evidently  the  city  editor  of  this  establishment. 

"I'm  looking  for  work,"  the  Big  Fellow  said. 
"  Is  there  any  chance  for  me  to  get  a  job?  ' 

The  section  boss  scowled  at  first.  Usually  men 
in  white  collars  did  not  have  the  requisite  stam 
ina.  When  his  sharp  eye  saw  the  form  that  went 
with  this  white  collar  he  ejaculated: 

"  God,  yes!  " 

"  Do  I  apply  to  you?  " 

"  No.  Apply  at  Number  223  East  First  Street 
for  the  day  gang.  Dollar  and  a  half  a  day  and 
you  can  start  in  the  morning,  if  you  want  to." 

Evidently  the  public  paid  the  muscles  that  built 
a  trolley  line  as  liberally  as  it  paid  the  brains 
that  amused  it  on  the  way  home. 

"  Two  Braids  will  see  the  sport  of  this,"  he 
said. 

In  good  humor  with  himself,  he  smiled  appreci 
atively  over  the  horror  of  Madame  Mother  and 
Aunt  Julia  if  they  should  hear  what  he  was  going 
to  do.  He  had  no  thought  of  writing  to  them 
about  it,  you  may  be  sure.  Had  he  not  already 
formed  a  connection  with  a  newspaper  the  first 


THAT  PLUS  SIGN  85 

day  of  his  arrival!  And  wasn't  the  way  already 
clearing  itself  for  him  to  begin  the  law  when  the 
summer  was  over?  For,  of  course,  he  would  not 
begin  until  autumn,  and  meanwhile  he  was  going 
to  take  plenty  of  exercise  to  keep  in  good  physi 
cal  trim.  So,  at  least,  fye  wished  two  old  ladies 
to  see  his  situation,  in  his  first  "  professionally 
cheerful  "  letter  home. 


X 

WITH   THE    MIXED   GANG 

WHILE  story-tellers  write  of  the  romance 
of  the  Foreign  Legion,  in  which  spend 
thrift  and  spend-rift  of  many  tongues 
serve  France  in  the  safely  incognito  land  of  the 
Moroccan  frontier,  we  should  not  overlook  the 
foreign  legions  of  our  own  country,  known  under 
a  different  and  less  military  name,  which  uphold 
the  dignity  of  labor  through  no  choice  of  their 
own.  Farther  down  the  street  was  a  pure  legion, 
all  Italians.  Theirs  was  too  modern  a  phase  of 
Roman  colonization  to  concern  The  International 
Law  Review  when  it  chose  a  subject  for  a  prize 
essay. 

It  was  the  "  mixed  gang,"  under  Terence  Mc- 
Phane  as  foreman,  to  which  Mr.  Ninety  in  Calcu 
lus,  having  to  supply  his  own  pick  and  shovel, 
was  assigned.  A  few  of  his  co-laborers  were 
American  born,  sinewy  and  taciturn  except  for  an 
occasional  cynicism  over  their  lot,  and  more  were 
Huns.  Three  were  negroes  and  the  small,  middle- 
aged  man  next  to  him  was  Irish,  and  by  name 
Pete  Maloney. 

"  Shure,  I've  seen  dudes  afore,"  said  Pete, 
"  an'  I've  no  prejudices  agin  any  man  that's 


WITH  THE  MIXED  GANG  87 

afther  an  honest  day's  wur-rk.  It's  me  that's 
tellin'  ye  if  ye '11  pick  the  blisthers  under  the  edge 
it's  thrue  they'll  smart  some,  but  it's  betther 
than  losin'  all  the  skin." 

"  The  skin's  gone  already,"  affirmed  the  Big 
Fellow,  and  grabbed  his  shovel  again.  He  had 
dropped  it  mechanically  to  have  a  look  at  those 
red,  bleeding  palms  and  at  his  broken  nails. 

"  Better  cut  the  nails  clean,"  suggested  Fore 
man  Terence.  "  Got  a  knife?  No?  Here's 
one!  " 

The  Big  Fellow  had  a  rest  while  he  pared  off 
the  splinters  to  the  quick. 

"  What  brought  ye  here,  me  b'y?  "  asked  Pete, 
looking  up  through  his  grizzly  eyebrows. 

"  I  needed  money,"  answered  the  Big  Fellow, 
slyly.  "  What  brought  you!  " 

"  Immigrashun  an'  me  natchral  charakter,  me 
havin'  the  sand  but  not  the  girth  fer  the  foorce. 
That's  all.  It's  as  much  as  ye  give.  An'  if  ye 're 
thinkin'  I'm  goin'  to  make  all  the  conversation 
it's  yersilf  that's  mistaken." 

In  a  few  sentences  Pete  had  made  himself  ad 
mirable  and  likable,  and  the  Big  Fellow  now 
laughed  out  of  the  delight  of  camaraderie. 

"  Laugh  that  way  as  often  as  ye  like.  Ye 're 
all  right,"  said  Pete.  "I'll  put  ye  onto  all  the 
fine  p'ints  of  the  thrade,  'n'  I  might  remind 
ye  to  stahrt  with  that  ye 're  doin'  two  min's 
wur-rk. ' ' 

The  Big  Fellow  was  quite  unconscious  of  this. 
He  tossed  paving-stones  out  to  one  side  when 


88  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

that  was  the  thing  and  dug  or  shoveled  when  that 
was,  with  the  energy  of  one  after  a  record. 

"  Ye 're  all  right,  but  ye  want  to  git  a  pair  of 
overalls  an'  come  in  yer  undershir-rt  t'-morrer. 
Ye 're  as  conspicuous  as  the  giniral  1'adin'  the 
p'rade." 

Before  the  day  was  over  he  had  an  illustration 
of  the  misfortune  of  a  white  shirt,  tan  shoes,  and 
gray  trousers  for  his  present  occupation.  They 
singled  him  out  to  an  elderly,  slight,  sharp-faced 
man  driving  in  a  buggy  with  a  young  man  at  his 
side.  The  foreman  had  responded  at  the  first 
sight  of  this  gentleman  and  was  standing  with 
one  hand  on  the  tire  of  the  wheel,  speaking  to  the 
president  of  the  company,  when  the  recruit  hap 
pened  to  look  up  and  straight  into  Colonel  Walk 
er's  bright  eye. 

66  Morning!  "  said  the  Colonel,  grinning. 

"  Good-morning  to  you,  Colonel  Walker,"  he 
answered.  "  A  little  muggy,  but  fine  growing 
weather.  Good-morning,  Ned!  " 

"  Changed  your  mind,  did  you?  "  whinnied  the 
Colonel.  "  Working  for  me  after  all,  eh?  This 
is  my  trolley  line." 

' '  Not  in  a  private  capacity, ' '  answered  the  Big 
Fellow,  laughing.  "  It's  a  public  utility  and  I 
have  no  contract  for  a  term  of  years." 

"  Utility,  eh!  I  expect  it  to  be  pretty  useful 
to  me.  How  is  he  doing?  "  (This  to  Terence.) 

"  First-rate  man,  sir,"  said  Terence. 

"  Hands  pretty  sore,  Mr.  Harden?  "  pursued 
the  Colonel. 


WITH  THE  MIXED  GANG  89 

1 '  Pretty,  yes.  Raw  and  hammy.  But  that  will 
mend  and  it's  a  good  work,  isn't  it,  Colonel,  im 
proving  our  transit  facilities?  " 

This  shot  the  Colonel,  with  his  keen  sense  of 
humor,  must  have  appreciated.  If  he  had  any 
thing  to  say  in  response,  however,  he  was  not 
given  an  opportunity.  Dropping  his  shovel  with 
a  ring  as  the  handle  struck  a  paving-block,  Pete 
Maloney  broke  into  a  harangue: 

"  It's  you  that's  Colonel  Walker,  is  it!  It's 
long  I've  been  wantin'  to  look  at  ye,  ye  ol'  rap 
scallion!  I've  niver  bowed  the  knee  to  a  land 
lord  in  Ireland  an'  it's  not  me  that's  goin'  to 
bow  it  now  fer  tin  damned  jobs  at  a  dollar  an'  a 
half  a  day.  An'  it's  me  that's  tellin'  ye  fer  yer 
own  good  that  if  ye  don't  make  transfers  wid  the 
Eighth  Sthreet  line  to  Shantytown  on  the  East 
Side,  the  place  yer  bound  to  go  to,  as  I  see  be  the 
look  o'  yer  face,  ain't  half  hot  enough  fer  ye!  " 

"  Send  that  man  away!  "  Ned  Walker  said, 
hotly. 

But  his  father  put  his  hand  on  the  son's  arm 
with  a  ' i  Tut !  ' '  and  his  whinnying  laugh. 

11  You've  a  lot  to  learn,  Ned,"  he  told  his  son. 

11  An'  shure  I  said  it  an'  shure  I  sthand  by  it !  " 
repeated  Pete. 

"  What  kind  of  a  man  is  he!  "  asked  the 
Colonel  of  the  foreman. 

"  First-rate  worker." 

"  And  what's  his  name?  " 

The  Colonel  never  allowed  sentiment  to  inter 
fere  with  business.  This  was  not  a  matter  of  cal- 


90  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

dilation  with  him.  It  was  habit.  Only  a  man  of 
equal  strength  ever  made  him  really  lose  his 
temper. 

"  Those  are  your  political  opinions,  Mr.  Ma- 
loney,  I  see,"  said  the  Colonel.  "  I'm  trying  to 
develop  this  city  and  I  must  finish  this  trolley  line 
by  October  first.  My  heart  is  with  the  poor  people 
of  the  East  Side.  I'll  give  transfers  if  it  won't 
bankrupt  the  Consolidated.  I  like  a  candid  man, 
Mr.  Maloney;"  the  Colonel  smiled  over  his  joke. 

"  Shure  all  that  slathering  '11  not  get  a  sip  o' 
wather  fer  ye  down  below!  "  retorted  Pete. 

Meanwhile,  of  all  the  gang  only  the  Big  Fellow 
was  at  work.  The  rest  were  spell-bound  specta 
tors.  Critically  the  Colonel  scrutinized  him  as  he 
plied  his  pick  with  powerful  swings. 

"  Come,  look  here,  Harden!  "  said  Ned.  "  It's 
not  right  to  see  you  doing  this.  Let  us  give  you 
something  else.  There'll  be  no  obligations." 

Caste  was  strong  in  Ned  Walker  and  manifest 
in  the  finely  chiseled  lines  of  a  handsome  face 
that  at  times  seemed  a  little  supercilious  and 
at  times  pleasing  and  fickle.  Socially  it  was  re 
pugnant  to  him  to  see  a  classmate  in  the  ranks  of 
day  laborers,  beside  negroes. 

"  Thanks,  Ned,"  the  Big  Fellow  returned.  "  I 
came  to  town  without  any  money  and  concluded  to 
make  my  own  way.  It's  just  as  good  exercise  as 
football.  You  aren't  in  any  fear  of  being  jumped 
on  if  you  break  training  and  it  won't  make  my 
shoulders  slope  any  worse." 

"  Oh,  very  well,"  Ned  answered,  gingerly. 


WITH  THE  MIXED  GANG  91 

Who  else  but  Harden  would  think  of  such  a 
thing! 

"  It  isn't  too  late.  I'll  make  you  that  offer 
for  the  last  time,"  the  Colonel  said,  as  he  lifted 
his  reins. 

"  No.  I'll  stick  to  this.  It's  a  good  post-grad 
uate  course  in  the  humanities  for  a  man  who  has 
been  living  among  books  and  in  the  clouds." 

"  Ne-eh!  "  the  Colonel  whinnied.    "  Giddap!  " 

"  Good-morning,  Ned!  "  the  Big  Fellow  called. 

"  Good-morning,  Harden!  "  Ned  answered. 

The  foreman  followed  the  buggy  to  know  if 
there  were  any  special  directions  about  Harden, 
and  the  Colonel  said,  "  None." 

"  It's  caddish,  nothing  less.  He's  turning  So 
cialist  or  something, "Ned  remarked  to  his  father, 
as  they  turned  into  a  cross-street  to  escape  the 
broken  paving. 

"  No!  No  Socialist  that's  a  college  graduate 
takes  hold  as  a  day  laborer.  No!  Damn  him— 
no,  I  say,  Ned  " — and  the  old  financier  was  silent 
for  a  space.  "  Ned,  in  a  week  the  foreman  and 
all  the  dagos  and  the  coons  will  be  thinking  what 
a  fine  fellow  he  is.  He's  a  natural  politician." 

This  was  a  mistake.  In  a  week  they  were  try 
ing  to  break  the  head  of  the  new  recruit. 

"  Ye 're  Irish  ye 're  that  contrairy,  an'  God  bliss 
ye!  "  said  Pete.  "  Ye  only  come  to  the  city  yis- 
tiddy?  An'  where  did  ye  sthop?  At  one  o'  thim 
lodgin '-houses,  ye  say,  where  ye  lape  through 


92  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

the  dure  onto  the  bid  an'  give  up  yer  quart 
o'  blood  overnight?  Shure,  it's  the  likes  of  yer 
sunny  silf  the  Missus  an'  me  have  been  lookin' 
f er  fer  a  boarder.  Ye'll  like  the  childher.  They're 
Irish.  Ye  can't  help  it.  It's  a  fine  counthry  es 
tate  we  have." 

Far  out  on  the  hills  on  the  edge  of  the  city 
an  old  mansion  had  been  partly  torn  down 
when  a  certain  real  estate  and  building  deal  fell 
through.  The  Maloneys  moved  into  the  other 
half  and  hung  out  their  washing  from  ropes  at 
tached  to  the  framework  which  lay  bare  among 
the  plastering.  When  the  owner  came,  said  Pete : 

"  Shure,  ye '11  be  aisy  with  us  that's  guardin' 
yer  property  an'  kapin'  yer  inimies  from  dumpin' 
ashes  an'  garbage." 

"  How  much  a  month  ought  I  to  charge  you!  ' 

"  If  I  had  to  pay  rint  how'd  I  ever  support  the 
childher?  Look  at  'em!  Ain't  they  the  bright 
ones?  Tim's  goin'  to  be  a  praste — an'  me  on  a 
dollar  an'  a  half  a  day!  " 

So  the  owner  patted  Tim  on  the  head  and  for 
got  to  send  in  a  bill. 

Mrs.  Maloney  hung  the  old  porch  with  curtains, 
and  in  this  the  Big  Fellow  camped  in  the  warm 
months.  Around  a  high  city  hydrant  for  the 
street  sprinklers  the  boys  of  the  neighborhood  had 
built  an  enclosure  and,  the  alderman  from  Shanty- 
town  being  of  the  majority,  they  had  a  shower, 
under  which  every  night,  when  he  came  home 
sweaty  and  sticky  with  the  dirt  in  which  he  had 
been  delving,  the  Big  Fellow  stood  for  a  minute 


WITH  THE  MIXED  GANG  93 

before  he  sat  down  to  the  evening  meal  with  Pete 
and  the  Missus  and  the  children. 

"  Shure,  an'  we're  the  rale  aristocracy,  we 
are,"  in  the  words  of  the  host,  "  an'  haven't  we 
the  stahr  boarder?  ' 

Later  in  the  evening  Big  would  usually  go  to 
the  office  of  The  Beacon,  where  he  would  wait 
hopefully — "  like  an  elephant  for  a  peanut,"  said 
one  of  the  reporters — for  a  dollar  assignment, 
and  if  it  was  not  forthcoming  he  would  write  a 
letter  on  The  Beacon's  letterhead  to  Madame 
Mother,  but  to  Miss  Two  Braids  on  the  regular 
copy  paper. 

"  Oh,  I  cried  for  shame,"  Miss  Two  Braids 
wrote,  "  when  I  read  what  you  were  doing.  I 
was  so  angry  I  beat  the  pillow.  It's  not  right, 
I  said,  and  I  wish  you  had  just  taken  Colonel 
Walker's  offer.  Our  family's  too  stubborn.  But 
the  next  morning  I  thought  of  Pete  Maloney  and 
fancied  I  could  see  him  and  his  little  pipe  and 
twinkling  eye,  and  I  laughed  because  I  knew  you 
would  want  me  to  laugh  over  it,  and  because  I 
knew  you  were  happy  and  free  or  you  would  not 
write  of  everything  in  such  a  happy  way,  and  be 
cause  I  know  you'll  win  and  study  the  law  just 
the  way  you  want  to. 

"  If  I  only  could  look  in  and  see  you  and  the 
Missus  and  the  children!  Why  is  it  so  easy  for 
the  Irish  to  talk,  Jim?  Why  is  it  you  can't  help 
liking  them!  .  .  . 

"  We  let  Pam  wash  the  dishes  now.    He  holds  a 


94  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

plate  like  it  was  an  eggshell  and  he  is  so  slow. 
He  says  he  is  '  'sponsible  '  and  nothing  is  going 
to  hurry  him  till  he  has  won  back  his  good  name. 
Mr.  Hobber  wanted  to  buy  our  grass  for  hay. 
Pam  wouldn't  sell.  He  says  he  wants  the  hay 
for  the  new  cow  you  are  going  to  buy  him  next 
winter.  We  had  to  let  him  have  his  way;  he  is 
so  contrary,  and  he  can  be  contrary  in  such  an 
amusing  way.  .  .  . 

"  If  you  could  have  seen  Aunt  Martha  when 
that  five  dollars  you  sent  came!  She  cried  over 
it.  <  Julia,'  she  said,  '  he  didn't  have  to  take  it 
from  Colonel  Walker.  He  earned  it  with  his  own 
brain  in  the  city  where  he  went  without  a 
friend  '  '  (that  brain  was  calloused  beyond  all 
danger  of  blisters  by  this  time)  "  '  and  I'm  going 
to  send  it  right  back. ' 

"  But  then  a  bill  for  groceries  came  and  she 
just  couldn't.  Big  brother,  if  you  send  money 
home  how  are  you  ever  going  to  pay  Mr.  Hobber ! 
There,  that  is  practical!  "  (So  Jim  thought.  He 
had  calculated  to  a  nicety  the  family's  minimum 
needs,  which  he  must  assist,  and  that  five  dollars 
was  a  guarantee  of  his  success  to  reassure  their 
fears.)  "  But  you  will  do  it,  Jim. 

"  Lovingly, 

"  PORTIA. 

"  P.  S.  Confidential :  I  am  always  going  to  sign 
myself  Portia.  Maybe  it  will  make  you  a  judge 
sooner.  Our  secret.  Confidential  '  —each  "  con 
fidential  "  having  four  underscores. 


XI 

THE  LABORER'S  HIRE 

wur-rkin'  to°  har-rd!"  said  Pete 
Maloney. 

"  I  can't  help  it,"   said  the   "  stahr 
boarder." 

"  An'  why  can't  ye?  " 

"  I  don't  know.    Original  sin,  maybe,  Pete." 

Others  did  know.  It  was  a  characteristic.  He 
put  his  energy  into  swinging  the  pick  as  prodi 
gally  as  into  his  essay  in  the  small  hours  of  the 
morning. 

"  It  ain't  in  rayson  t'  do  three  dollars'  wur-rk 
fer  that  ol'  rapscallion  whin  ye  git  only  a  dollar 
an'  a  half,"  Pete  resumed.  "  Now,  ye  absint- 
moinded  divil,  whin  ye  see  a  dhrop  of  sweat  spat 
ter  off  the  ind  of  yer  nose  on  a  pavin'-sthone,  jist 
take  it  fer  a  warnin'  of  a  curve  an'  crossin'  ahead 
an'  shlow  down." 

If  he  did  three  dollars'  worth  of  work,  ought  he 
not  to  have  three  dollars  pay!  That  idea  once 
germinated  is  likely  to  grow  on  anyone  who  is 
toiling  with  a  July  sun  on  the  back  of  his  head  as 
he  bends  over  the  cobbles,  with  the  rank- smelling 
dust  of  city  pavements  hot  in  his  nostrils. 

95 


96  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  And  why  shouldn't  I  get  three,  then?  "  he 
asked  Pete. 

"  Say,  if  ye  did  ye'd  have  the  whole  gang  on 
yer  back  like  a  lot  o '  wildcats !  ' 

li  I  don't  see  any  reason  for  that,"  the  Big 
Fellow  pursued. 

"  Thry  an'  ye  will.  Rayson,  me  b'y,  ain't  bor-rn 
in  the  gang.  They  wur-rk  with  their  hands,  not 
their  heads.  If  they  had  the  heads  they  wouldn't 
be  wur-rkin'  with  their  hands." 

"  I'll  think  that  over  to-night,"  Big  concluded. 

"  An'  what  come  out  o'  yer  thinkin'?  "  Pete 
asked  the  next  morning. 

"  Two  fifty  a  day.  I'll  speak  to  McPhane," 
was  the  answer. 

"  It's  mesilf  that  will  not  miss  that  conversa 
tion,"  said  Pete,  who  was  at  the  "  stahr  board 
er's  "  elbow  when  they  arrived  for  their  work, 
and  Big  went  at  once  to  the  foreman  with  his  can 
did  question : 

"  Do  I  do  more  work  than  the  other  men?  ' 

"  Gwan!  "  said  McPhane.    "  It's  a  hot  day." 

"  Well,  do  I  do  two  fifty's  worth  compared  to 
one  fifty  for  the  others?  That's  a  fair  question." 

The  grey  eye  that  never  laughed  bored  into 
Terence's  soft  blue  one  for  the  truth;  and  an 
honest  answer  being  directly  demanded,  Terence 
gave  it. 

"  Sure  you  do." 

"  Without  trying  to  collect  any  back  pay,  I'd 
like  two  fifty  in  the  future,"  the  Big  Fellow  re 
turned,  easily. 


THE  LABORER'S  HIRE  97 

"  Oh,  ye  wouldn't  collect  any  back  pay,  ye— 
Terence  began.     It  seemed  to  him  that  the  Big 
Fellow,  who  had  not  moved  an  inch,  was  standing 
about  a  foot  nearer. 

"  This  is  a  matter  of  simple  principle,  Mr. 
McPhane,  simple  honesty." 

"  I'll  think  it  over,"  said  Terence.  "  Take  yer 
pick  and  get  busy." 

Many  kinds  had  been  on  the  mixed  gang  in 
Terence's  time,  and  the  Big  Fellow  belonged  to 
none  of  them,  the  shrewd  foreman  knew.  Ordi 
narily,  this  problem  could  have  been  settled  by 
telling  the  applicant  to  quit  if  he  were  not  satis 
fied.  The  best  way  now  was  to  shift  respon 
sibility  and  keep  your  own  skirts  clear.  When 
the  matter  was  taken  to  the  superintendent 
he  carried  it  higher  up,  and  finally  Colonel 
Walker  himself  was  talking  over  the  telephone 
from  the  Union  Club  to  Terence,  who  was  in  Gus 
Berkhoover's  saloon. 

"  Wants  two  fifty  a  day,  does  he?  Is  he  earn 
ing  it?  "  the  Colonel  asked. 

"  Yes,  sir.  He  does  twice  as  much  as  most 
of  the  men  and  three  times  as  much  as  some  of  the 
bums." 

"Ne-eh!    Well,  why  does  he  want  it?  " 

For  the  Colonel  was  interested.  Anything 
about  the  Big  Fellow  seemed  to  have  a  hold 
on  his  imagination.  The  wonder  of  a  young 
man  who  refused  an  offer  from  him  was  a 
solecism  in  his  experience  that  he  could  not 
forget. 


98  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

11  Why  does  anybody  want  more  pay!  "  Ter 
ence  asked,  laughing. 

"Ho-ho! — and  Ned  called  him  a  Socialist," 
thought  the  Colonel.  "  Well,  what  if  we  should 
give  it  to  him?  ' 

"  Why,  it  will  be  all  right  if  we  keep  quiet.  If 
the  others  find  out,  there'll  be  hell  to  pay.  They'd 
strike  or  make  him  give  it  up." 

"  Well,  you  pay  it  to  him  and  let  the  other 
fellows  know;  d'ye  get  that?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

Terence  thought  he  heard  a  throaty  ejaculation 
like  a  neighing  giggle  as  the  Colonel  hung  up  the 
receiver.  It  was  not  for  him  to  question  orders 
from  the  throne.  He  told  the  Big  Fellow  he  was 
to  get  the  two  fifty. 

"  An'  kape  it  quiet,  Terence,  or  there'll  be  a 
Donnybrook  Fair,"  said  Pete  Maloney,  promptly. 

"  If  oratory  would  move  dirt  you'd  tunnel 
mountains,"  Terence  answered. 

"  Shure,  but  ye'd  plug  up  the  hole  with  yer 
assurance,  ye  loafer!  " 

Terence  grinned,  for  they  were  both  Irish.  At 
noontime,  in  duty  bound,  Terence  passed  the 
word.  It  traveled  fast  among  the  tired  men  lying 
on  the  walks  in  the  shade  of  the  buildings  on  that 
nerve-exciting,  blistering  day.  In  the  business 
heart  of  the  city,  which  was  set  in  a  basin  among 
the  hills,  no  breeze  from  the  river  penetrated  more 
than  the  distance  of  a  block. 

All  the  thinking  power  that  those  weary  men 
had  left  was  their  tempers.  An  unspoken  rule 


THE  LABORER'S  HIRE  99 

which  bound  them  into  solidarity  had  been  broken. 
They  wanted  only  a  leader.  An  Italian  for  his 
people  and  one  of  the  negroes  for  the  mixed  gang 
arose  at  a  moment  when  Terence  had  stepped 
in  to  have  a  beer  with  his  friend  Gus,  Pete  Ma- 
loney  had  gone  into  the  next  street  to  buy  some 
thing  the  Missus  had  asked  him  to  get,  and  the 
Big  Fellow  was  sitting  on  the  steps  of  a  disused 
building,  eating  the  dinner  the  Missus  had  put 
up  for  him.  A  start  of  surprise  at  their  ugly 
looks  brought  him  to  his  feet,  as  the  twenty  or 
thirty  swarthy  men  came  toward  him.  Three 
or  four  spoke  at  once,  serving  notice  that  no  man 
on  that  job  was  going  to  get  more  than  a  dollar 
and  a  half  a  day. 

"  Not  if  he  earns  it?  "  said  the  Big  Fellow,  who 
was  standing  on  the  second  step. 

They  answered  "  No!  "  passionately,  in  many 
tongues. 

"  You  speak  English,"  the  Big  Fellow  said  to 
one  of  the  Italians.  "  Will  you  interpret  for 
me?  Now,  if  I  do  enough  more  work  for  another 
dollar,  isn't  that  mine?  I  need  the  money.  If 
I  have  the  strength  to  earn  it,  isn't  it  mine!  When 
they  pay  me  two  fifty  a  day  and  I  do  more  work 
than  any  of  you,  then  that  means  you  will  not  be 
asked  to  do  as  much  as  I  for  what  I  get.  If  you 
will  do  as  much  as  I,  then  it  means  two  fifty  a  day 
for  you.  Isn't  that  just?  Isn't  that  fair?  If  I 
were  weak  and  could  earn  only  a  dollar,  would 
you  take  that  dollar  away  from  me  because  I 
could  not  earn  two?  " 


100  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

A  few  fell  back,  thinking  of  what  he  said.  But 
the  leaders  pressed  closely. 

"  Now  I'm  not  going  to  let  you  come  up  on 
this  step,"  the  Big  Fellow  warned  them.  "  This 
is  my  restaurant,  you  see,  and  you'll  step  on 
my  coffee  can."  That  brought  a  smile  from  two 
of  the  negroes  and  from  the  members  of  the 
mixed  gang  and  the  Italians  that  understood 
English.  "  The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire. 
I  propose  to  have  my  two  fifty  a  day." 

"  No,  you  don't!  " 

The  leaders  saw  their  cause  wavering.  They 
sprang  toward  him  threateningly.  What  hap 
pened  then  happened  quickly.  One  arm,  with 
steel  grey  eyes — the  eyes  that  never  laughed— 
behind  it  stretched  three  men  at  the  foot  of  the 
steps,  and  then  the  steel  grey  eyes,  calm  and 
ready,  looked  at  the  others. 

"  Do  you  think  they  are  right?  "  he  asked 
them.  "  If  I  can  earn  two  fifty  a  day  or  any  of 
you  can,  don't  you  think  you  ought  to  have  it?  ' 

The  majority  seemed  to  think  so,  for  they  drew 
away. 

"  Boss,  you  two-fifta-a-day  man,  all  righta," 
said  one  of  the  Italians. 

"  An'  yo'  ain'  no  Jim  Jackson,  is  yo'?  "  said 
one  of  the  negroes  to  the  fallen  negro. 

Pete  Maloney  was  turning  a  corner  just  as  the 
incident  occurred.  And  he  out  of  it !  How  could 
he  ever  justify  himself  to  the  Missus  for  missing 
a  fight  where  the  "  stahr  boarder  "  was  con 
cerned?  He  came  on  a  run  in  the  hope  that  the 


THE  LABORER'S  HIRE  101 

fracas  might  last  long  enough  for  him  to  get  in 
a  blow  or  two.  Anyway,  he  could  argue  with  the 
police. 

"  Ye  divil,  ye!  Shure,  sometimes  I  fought  ye 
was  a  goody-goody, "  he  said,  in  rapture,  to  the 
Big  Fellow.  * i  Me  faith  in  ye  is  complate.  I  seen 
ye.  God  bliss  ye !  Ye  was  a  lion.  Ye  Ve  got  Irish 
blood — ye  needn't  tell  me!  " 

When  the  police  came  there  was  nothing  for 
them  to  do.  A  swelling  eye  or  sore  jaw  requires 
no  ambulance. 

"  Shure,  we've  been  upholdin'  the  dignity  of 
labor-r,"  as  Pete  explained.  By  night  he  had 
convinced  himself  that  he  was  in  the  fight. 

After  Terence  saw  what  had  happened  he  re 
turned  to  Berkhoover  's,  and,  with  a  lively  con 
sciousness  that  he  had  obeyed  orders  exactly  and 
without  waiting  on  the  superintendent,  he  tele 
phoned  direct  to  the  Colonel,  who  had  just  fin 
ished  luncheon  at  the  club.  An  occasional  neigh 
came  whinnying  back  over  the  wire  as  he  listened 
to  the  narrative. 

"  A  number  of  men  have  already  asked  for  a 
raise  on  the  plea  that  they  deserve  it,"  Terence 
stated,  finally. 

"  They  have,  eh!  Well,  tell  that  young  Harden 
I  want  to  talk  to  him  right  away." 

"  Yes,  sir;"  and  he  went  for  the  Big  Fellow, 
who,  when  he  came  to  the  'phone,  called  cheerily : 

"  Good-day,  Colonel  Walker!  " 

"  Good-day  to  you!  "  snapped  the  Colonel. 
"  Nice  mess  you've  made!  " 


102  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  Yes,  I  expect  I  lost  my  temper." 

Big  was  really  crestfallen  and  distressed,  even 
if  his  voice  were  so  pleasant.  Presuming  on  his 
size,  had  he  not  been  playing  the  bully  against 
twenty  men  ? 

"  Couldn't  keep  out  of  politics,  could  you?  Had 
to  be  stirring  up  trouble!  "  the  Colonel  pursued. 
"  Now,  I've  got  to  raise  everybody's  wages. 
What  office  you  running  for?  " 

"  None!  "  came  the  answer,  sharp  and  earnest, 
"  As  for  the  men,  I  don't  think  they  all  expect 
two  fifty.  Some  two  twenty-five,  some  two,  and 
some  one  seventy-five.  It  depends  on  having  a 
just  foreman  and  a  scale. ' ' 

"  Smooth  talker,  you  are!  "  the  Colonel 
growled. 

"  Oh,  no.  A  hard  worker  who  wants  what  he 
earns.  And  that  very  principle,  the  right 
of  a  man  to  what  he  earns,  you  have  often 
defended  in  your  speeches.  It  seems  to  me  it  is 
the  way  you  should  justify  the  possession  of 
your  fortune.  Here  your  favorite  principle  is 
established." 

"  Ne-eh!  "  was  the  only  answer. 

"  Now,  if  you  make  as  high  a  wage  as  two  fifty 
a  day  for  picked  men,  you  will  have  a  wider 
choice  and  greater  efficiency,  I  believe.  Isn't 
it  better  to  pay  two  fifty  for  three  dollars'  worth 
of  work  than  one  fifty  for  a  dollar's?  " 

After  a  silence  the  Colonel  said : 

"  Well,  it  goes!  It'll  make  'em  hustle  and  I'm 
in  a  hurry  to  get  this  line  down.  It  goes  on  this 


THE  LABORER'S  HIRE  103 

job.     Say,  you  don't  want  to  reconsider  coming 

with  me?  " 

"  Not  when  IVe  just  got  a  raise,  thank  you." 
"  Well,  don't  go  about  knocking  too  many  folks 

down !  '     The  Colonel  hung  up  the  receiver.  Then 

he  said  to  himself:  "  Damn  politician!     If  he 

didn't  have  the  corn  on  me !  " 


XII 

"  YE   DIVIL,   YE!  " 

"    A    PRETTY  kind  of  judge  I  should  make !  In 

/\    two  street  brawls  in  a  month!  "  was  the 

way  in  which  the  Big  Fellow,  in  his  shame, 

took  counsel  with  himself,  as  he  and  Pete  walked 

home.    At  this  rate,  his  ambition  for  the  bench 

would  end  in  the  prisoners'  box. 

"  It's  a  bad  thing  to  lose  your  temper/'  he  re 
marked  aloud. 

' i  It's  a  worse  un  to  lose  a  fight,"  said  Pete. 
"  But  'twasn't  a  fight.  Ye  were  on'y  givin'  'em 
a  lisson." 

After  supper  Big  hurried  to  The  Beacon  office 
and  asked  Booth  if  news  of  a  row  among  the  la 
borers  on  the  new  trolley  line  came  in  please  to 
keep  him  out  of  it.  Alarmed  lest  Madame  Mother 
should  hear  of  the  affair,  which  meant  that  his 
occupation  would  be  revealed  to  her,  the  next 
morning  he  scanned  all  the  other  papers  closely. 

According  to  The  Times,  which  was  Colonel 
Walker's  organ,  the  raise  in  wages  was  due  to 
the  public  spirit  of  a  great  financier,  who  hoped 
to  hasten  the  completion  of  the  new  line  for  the 
use  of  the  people.  The  Record,  which  was  anti- 
Walker,  had  a  yarn  about  the  fight  by  which  the 

104 


"YE  DIVIL,  YE!  "  105 

victory  was  won.  It  gave  Harden 's  name  barely, 
but  did  not  associate  him  with  his  father.  When 
the  Big  Fellow  saw  this  he  lived  in  fear  for  two 
or  three  days,  which  would  have  been  unnecessary 
had  he  known  that  Hiram  Hobber,  returning  from 
Stottstown  on  the  same  train  as  the  dailies  from 
the  city,  read  the  yarn  and  immediately  bought 
up  all  the  edition  for  Bolton  on  purely  domestic 
grounds.  He  did  not  want  Mrs.  Hobber  to  have 
any  more  weapons  in  her  armory  than  those  which 
she  already  kept  bright  and  busy. 

From  Miss  Two  Braids,  to  whom  Big  had  writ 
ten  the  whole  story,  he  soon  had  the  assurance  he 
wanted.  She  was  of  a  militant  disposition  wher 
ever  he  was  concerned  and  she  quite  approved  of 
his  knocking  down  anybody  who  needed  it  on  all 
occasions. 

Without  any  effort  on  his  part,  he  found  him 
self  a  leader  of  the  men  who  had  risen  in  dignity 
and  industry. 

"  You  all  righta.  I  getta  the  two  dolla,"  said 
the  Italian  who  had  taken  his  part. 

When  Colonel  Walker,  who  seemed  to  find  pecu 
liar  pleasure  in  frequent  inspection,  was  riding 
by  the  mixed  gang,  he  called : 

"  Mr.  Politician,  how's  politics?  " 

"  Pretty  busy  to  keep  you  in  town,  Colonel," 
was  the  answer. 

"  Nice  mess  youVe  made.  Everybody  getting 
two  fifty  a  day." 

"  Not  everybody,  Colonel.  Only  those  who 
earn  it,  Pete  here  gets  only  two.  But  I  under- 


106  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

stand  that  we're  doing  about  sixty  per  cent,  more 
work  a  man.  So  you  are  a  gainer." 

"  Ne-eh!  I  won't  argue  with  a  lawyer. 
Giddap!" 

In  August  the  Colonel  sought  refuge  in  the 
country,  which  called  everybody  out  of  the  swel 
ter  who  could  go.  The  atmosphere  of  the  streets 
was  hazy  with  heat  waves ;  a  merciless  sun  ceased 
from  burning  only  during  brief  showers.  Some 
times  Big  would  see  red  spots  dancing  round  a 
paving-stone  as  he  set  it  in  place  or  took  it  out. 
Then  he  would  wipe  his  brow  and  crack  a  joke 
at  Pete ;  but  he  revived  after  that  dousing  under 
the  hydrant  in  the  evening,  and  after  chatting 
with  the  Maloneys,  large  and  small,  he  would 
begin  his  second  day's  work  in  the  twenty- four 
hours. 

61  Ye 're  killin'  yersilf,  that's  what  ye  are,"  said 
the  good  Missus.  "  If  it  wan't  that  ye 're  so  sinsi- 
ble,  I'd  say  ye  were  actin'  that  crazy  I'd  sind  for 
a  doctor." 

i '  I  rest  my  head  by  day  and  my  body  by  night. 
It's  only  one  session  for  either  part  of  me,"  he 
would  answer. 

"  It's  the  way  ye  have  of  turnin'  chalk  into 
cheese  with  yer  blarney,"  she  would  return,  hav 
ing  the  last  word;  "  an'  ye  can't  fool  me.  Ye 're 
that  tired,  I  can  see!  " 

But  Big  tried  to  think  that  the  heat  was  a  bless 
ing.  On  The  Beacon  the  reporters  were  now  tak 
ing  their  vacations  by  turns.  This  lessening  of 
the  force  meant  that  he  rarely  went  to  the  office 


"  YE  DIVIL,  YE!  "  107 

that  he  did  not  get  a  dollar  assignment  and  on 
some  happy  nights  a  two-dollar  one.  Booth  found 
that  accuracy  was  second  nature  to  the  Big  Fel 
low  and  that  he  had  the  gift  of  leading  men  to 
talk  where  old  hands  failed.  Frequently  he  fur 
nished  the  facts  which  others  rewrote  in  a  piquant 
and  slapdash  style. 

Time  strengthened  his  conviction  that  the  news 
paper  trick  was  not  his.  But  it  occurred  to  him, 
out  of  his  inborn  knowledge  of  character,  that 
he  knew  one  whose  trick  it  was.  He  had  always 
liked  Willy  Sweetser,  that  class  gossip,  and  had 
seen  more  in  him  than  anyone  else  thought 
possible. 

"  House  Afire,  you  would  make  a  great  confla 
gration  here,"  he  wrote  to  Willy,  who  was  at 
home  driving  his  good  father,  minister  of  the  gos 
pel,  to  special  prayers  for  the  future  of  an  only 
son  whose  erratic  hop-skip-and-jump  amiability 
was  his  armor  against  criticism  of  cigarette  smok 
ing  and  a  seemingly  hopeless  lack  of  any  more 
serious  intention  in  the  world  than  to  enjoy  all 
the  town  gossip. 

Back  to  Big,  Willy  wrote  that  the  weather  was 
hot,  the  peaches  on  the  tree  by  the  stone  garden 
wall  would  soon  be  ripe,  and  "  all  the  world  is 
fair  and  drowsy/'  to  quote  him.  "  The  butterfly 
is  not  worrying  about  the  winter  store — not  yet. 
I  think  I'm  in  love,  and  when  I'm  over  thinking 
I  am,  I  may  come  down.  Being  a  newspaper  man 
must  be  pretty  hard  work,  though.  Dad  thinks 
I  better  study  medicine.  No,  he  didn't  say  it  that 


108  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

way.  He  is  honest  and  lie  chooses  his  words.  He 
said  take  a  medical  course.  I  guess  he  thinks 
medicine  best  because  it  isn't  bad  form  for  doc 
tors  to  smoke.  But  I  might  try  reporting  soon 
as  it  gets  cooler.  What's  the  news!  Did  you 
hear  that  " — and  so  on,  on  all  kinds  of  class 
gossip. 

Through  the  weeks  that  wore  on  till  the  intol 
erable  heat  moderated  the  Big  Fellow  had  not 
missed  a  single  day  with  the  gang.  Regularly 
he  had  sent  a  small  part  of  his  earnings  home. 
With  only  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  saved,  he 
was  studying  possibilities  one  night  in  mid- Sep 
tember  in  The  Beacon  office  as  he  waited,  a  teth 
ered  elephant,  for  Booth  to  give  him  a  peanut. 
Again  this  steady  worker  faced  the  necessity  of 
action.  For  the  first  time  in  his  life  a  feeling 
of  anarchy  ran  riot  in  his  breast — in  whose  has  it 
not? — under  the  leadership  of  discouragement. 

The  hard  physical  grind  by  day  and  the  late  vig 
ils  at  The  Beacon,  of  ten  with  only  four  hours'  sleep 
out  of  the  twenty-four,  had  slightly  warped  his 
perspective,  perhaps.  He  did  not  think  of  trying 
to  borrow  the  money  he  needed.  According  to  his 
instinct  of  the  situation — and  he  was  stubborn  in 
some  respects — that  would  not  be  playing  the 
game.  His  lack  of  the  money-making  gift,  which 
Miss  Two  Braids'  intuition  had  so  readily  under 
stood,  was  not  a  consideration  that  he  would 
admit  as  an  excuse.  He  had  set  out  to  earn  a  cer 
tain  sum  in  a  certain  length  of  time  and  he  would 
earn  it. 


"  YE  DIVIL,  YE!  "  109 

But  how?  At  this  question  he  had  the  feeling 
of  one  who  must  find  still  harder  work  and  more 
work.  In  a  spell  of  dizziness,  though  he  appeared 
to  be  calm  and  self-possessed,  he  saw  the  electric- 
light  bulb  dancing  in  a  haze  around  Booth 's  thatch 
of  hair.  He  rubbed  his  eyes  to  make  it  settle 
into  place  and  had  quite  recovered  himself  when 
Kiddy  brought  him  a  letter  with  The  Interna 
tional  Law  Review  in  the  upper  right-hand  corner, 
above  the  address. 

The  manuscript  could  never  be  inside  that  small 
envelope.  Probably  the  editors  wanted  postage 
for  its  return.  What  if — yes,  what  if !  The  Bea 
con  office,  where  sensations  sent  forth  to  the  read 
ing  public  were  the  days'  routine,  had  a  sensation 
of  its  own.  Eeporters'  pencils  jumped  in  the  mid 
dle  of  a  word  at  the  sound  of  a  mighty  shout.  The 
Big  Fellow  sprang  on  top  of  a  desk  which  ca 
reened  under  his  weight,  while  he  held  aloft  a 
slip  of  yellow  paper  which  was  a  talisman  for  a 
hundred  dollars.  As  the  youngster  who  coined 
the  elephant  and  peanut  simile  said,  the  elephant 
had  broken  loose  and  was  making  a  dash  for  the 
jungle. 

"  I  want  you  all  to  know  it,"  Big  cried,  "  be 
cause  you  have  all  been  good  to  me!  I  want 
to  tell  you  that  I  had  to  earn  two  hundred  and 
forty-eight  dollars  and  fifty  cents  by  October  first, 
and  IVe  done  it!  IVe  won  that  essay  prize! 
I'm  so  happy,  Mr.  Booth,  that  I  don't  care 
whether  Eddy  Smith  was  pushed  or  fell,  so  long 
as  he  had  to  go!  " 


110  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  Gee!  "  said  Kiddy  Witherbee,  who  did  not 
know  what  it  was  all  about. 

There  was  one  present  who  did,  however.  He 
was  a  lank,  tall,  slightly-stooped,  smooth-faced 
man,  the  law  reporter  of  The  Beacon,  which  gave 
more  attention  to  court  reports  than  any  other 
paper  in  the  West.  Occasionally  the  Big  Fellow 
had  seen  him  pass  through  the  outer  room  into 
the  editorial  sanctum  and  more  than  once  had 
been  on  the  point  of  introducing  himself,  but  was 
held  back  by  the  modesty  of  twenty-two  in  ap 
proaching  sixty. 

' '  You  won  it !  ' '  said  Theodore  Dexter,  who  had 
entered  in  time  to  hear  that  shout  of  joy. 

"  Yes,  The  International  Law  Review  one. 
Yes!  Oh,  what  luck!  " 

"  What  college  are  you?  "  Dexter  asked, 
searchingly. 

" ,  '88." 

"  I'm  of  '48!  " 

While  the  others  looked  on,  still  puzzled,  '48  ex 
tended  both  hands  to  take  the  hands  of  '88  in  his 
grip. 

Another  man,  who  was  a  newcomer  in  that 
office,  had  entered  just  behind  Dexter.  In  the  blue 
atmosphere  Willy  Sweetser,  half  leaning  on  his 
silver-banded  cane,  with  a  cigarette  between  his 
teeth,  seemed  perfectly  at  home.  As  usual,  he 
was  on  hand  at  the  dramatic  moment. 

"  H'lo,  Big!  "  he  said.    "  What's  the  row?  " 

By  this  time  the  newspaper  sense  of  the  city 
editor  had  risen  to  the  occasion. 


'YE  DIVIL,  YE!  "  111 

"  There's  a  head!  "  he  said.  "  College  man- 
worked  as  a  gang  laborer — licked  the  gang  in  a 
fight — wins  great  prize  of  International  Law  Re 
view — refused  job  from  Colonel  Walker — honor 
judges  would  crave — modest,  big  fellow — and  all 
right  in  our  town!  Good  human  interest! 
Spader!  "  he  called,  "  I  guess  you're  the  one  to 
do  this." 

But  the  striking  figure  at  that  moment  was 
Willy  Sweetser.  This  teller  of  tales,  who  liked 
to  be  where  things  were  happening,  his  head 
thrust  forward  and  a  little  to  one  side,  with  quick, 
greedy  eye,  had  taken  in  the  tableau  and  with 
alert  mind  had  grasped  the  situation.  In  his 
movement  was  the  keenness  of  a  terrier  after 
rats,  as  three  or  four  steps  brought  him  to  the 
city  editor's  desk,  over  which  he  leaned  till  his 
nose  almost  touched  Booth's  head. 

"  This  is  just  like  Big!  "  he  said,  in  a  high- 
pitched  voice.  ' i  I  know  him  like  a  book.  I  went 
to  school  with  him!  He  is  my  friend!  He  is 
old  Big — none  in  the  same  class!  Let  me  write 
it!  " 

All  of  which  was  most  astonishing  to  Booth, 
who  had  never  seen  Willy  before. 

<  <  There 's  no  story  in  this !  ' '  declared  Big. 
"  Who  wants  to  hear  that  I've  won  an  essay 
prize?  ' 

"  And  that's  also  like  you,  Big!  "  said  Willy. 
"I'll  put  that  in  what  I  write." 

"  Do  you  wonder  that  I  found  he  was  no  news 
paper  man?  "  Booth  asked  the  newcomer. 


112  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  I  see  it!  I  see  it!  "  cried  Willy.  "  I  can 
write  it  like  mice !  I  'm  going  to  write  it,  anyway. 
Can  I  sit  here?  And  use  this  paper?  ' 

Without  waiting  on  an  answer  he  took  a  vacant 
place  and  began  in  his  irregular,  school-boyish 
hand,  with  his  whole  body  moving  at  the  same 
time  as  the  pencil,  while  Spader  stood  by  for 
further  orders. 

<  <  See  if  I  don  't  know  old  Big !  See  if  I  don 't !  ' ' 
Willy  mused  absently,  and  the  others  watched  this 
invader  curiously  till  he  filled  a  sheet.  "  There !  ' 
he  cried,  passing  it  to  Booth.  "  Say,  but  this  is 
fun !  "  and  he  went  on  furiously  covering  a  second 
sheet. 

Booth  read  the  first,  with  eyes  pressing  close 
to  the  paper. 

"  They're  born!  "  he  exclaimed.  "  I  always 
said  they  were !  Let  it  run !  Let  it  run !  Never 
mind,  Spader!  You  go  right  ahead,"  he  told 
Willy.  "  Anything  we  can  get?  Cigars  or  a 
drink?  » 

"  No,"  answered  Willy,  "  not  even  cigarettes. 
You  just  put  in  the  dots  and  the  curleycues  for 
me — I  never  was  much  on  punctuation — and  I'll 
reel  it  off  like  yarn  off  a  spinning-wheel.  This 
is  nuts  for  me!  r 

Temporarily,  Willy,  blissfully  unconscious  of  the 
fact,  had  taken  the  center  of  the  stage  away  from 
Big,  who,  with  Dexter,  watched  him  for  a  while. 
He  was  more  concentrated  on  a  single  thing  than 
he  had  ever  been  known  to  be  before,  when  he  had 
either  pencil  or  book  in  hand. 


"  YE  DIVIL,  YE!  '  113 

"  Won't  you  come  over  to  my  rooms,  Har 
den?  "  Dexter  asked  Big.  "  We'll  have  a  chat 
together. ' ' 

"  Oh,  I  would  like  to,  Mr.  Dexter,"  Big  an 
swered. 

"  We'll  return  for  this  other  '88  when  he  is 
through  with  his  yarn,"  Dexter  added. 

"  Coming  back  for  you,  Willy.  Don't  fail  to 
wait!  "  said  Big,  nudging  the  writer's  arm. 

"  All  right!  "  answered  Willy,  vacantly.  "  But 
I've  only  begun.  This  is  great!  ' 

"  Let  it  run!  Let  it  run!  "  '48  and  '88  heard 
Booth  calling,  as  they  left  the  editorial  rooms  and 
started  downstairs.  In  the  business  office  Big 
turned  to  Dexter : 

' '  This  means  more  to  the  folks  at  home  than  to 
me  and  I  have  only  ten  minutes  yet  for  the  night 
mail.  Will  you  wait  for  me?  " 

Stationery  he  got  from  a  clerk  and,  using  one 
of  the  wall  desks,  he  wrote  the  good  news  to 
Madame  Mother  and  to  Miss  Two  Braids  and 
had  started  to  seal  the  envelopes  when  a  "  P.S." 
occurred  to  him  in  a  peal  of  joy. 

"  Yes,  there'll  be  money  enough  with  what  I 
earn  in  the  next  two  weeks, ' '  he  said  aloud,  i  l  and 
I'll  do  it. 

"  '  Tell  Pam,'  he  wrote,  '  that  he  can  look 
around  for  a  cow.  I'll  send  the  price  of  her  to 
morrow — but  he  will  have  to  wait  for  a  lawn 


mower.'  " 


And  he  thought  gleefully:  "  How  I  would  like 
to  be  home  to  see  him,  perfectly  '  correct  '  in  his 


114  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

mental  parts,  leading  Liz  home!  '  Then  lie 
begged  his  companion's  pardon  for  laughing  to 
himself. 

"  What  was  the  idea — your  i  lead/  as  they  call 
it  in  the  whirlwind  shop  up  there — of  your  es 
say?  "  Dexter  asked. 

"  I  think  that  after  I  looked  those  old  Romans 
up,"  said  the  Big  Fellow,  "  I  tried  to  inject  some 
Abraham  Lincoln  into  Justinian." 

"  Yes,  yes,  of  course,"  was  the  response,  in  a 
voice  so  even  and  scholarly  that  it  was  like  the 
musical  hum  of  a  brook.  Theodore  Dexter  had 
slipped  his  arm  into  the  prize-winner's  as  if  they 
were  about  to  walk,  but  stopped.  "  Yes,  of 
course,  and  you  might  have  put  that  in  the  manu 
script,  too." 

There  was  only  one  word  and  the  word  was  fine 
for  that  face  which  Big  saw  in  the  light  shining 
out  of  the  business-office  window,  as  the  old 
counsellor-at-law — rather  than  lawyer — as  he  pre 
ferred  to  be  called,  paused  to  enjoy  the  news  he 
was  to  divulge. 

"  I  was  interested,  you  see,"  he  said,  "  because 
I  gave  that  prize.  I  was  also  the  judge,  and  I 
never  associated  the  name  of  James  Harden  with 
that  of  a  cub  reporter  on  The  Beacon." 

"  Well,  all  I  can  say,"  returned  Big,  "  over 
everything  that  has  happened  in  the  last  half- 
hour  is  what  Kiddy  says,  and  that  is  Gee !  and  to 
tell  you  that  you  are  the  greatest  hero  in  the  world 
to  me!  " 

"  But,"  continued  Dexter,  "  the  subject  was 


1  YE  DIVIL,  YE!  "  115 

Roman  colonization  and  you  didn't  stick  to  it  at 
all." 

"  No.  I  thought  it  over,'7  the  Big  Fellow  said, 
"  and,  well,  I  concluded  that  it  was  high  time 
we  buried  the  Romans !  The  conditions  were  very 
broad  and  said  that  each  candidate  was  to  treat 
the  subject  in  his  own  way.  I  tried  to  take  a  mod 
ern  view." 

"  Which  you  did,"  returned  Dexter,  "  by  tak 
ing  as  your  postulate  that  the  United  States  were 
suddenly  called  upon  to  give  law  and  order  to  a 
strange  race  of  people.  Oh,  I  remember  one  of 
your  sentences:  '  The  British  have  been  in  India 
for  three  hundred  years,  and  if  they  were  to  go 
to-morrow  they  would  leave  only  their  bridges 
and  roads  and  no  imprint  on  the  native  mind.7 
And  you  would  begin  with  the  mind.  That  is 
right." 

"  I  wrote  in  the  way  I  saw  things." 

"  Yes,  and  fulfilled  my  idea.  The  editor  of  the 
Review  thought  it  an  odd  subject,  and  I  told  him 
that  that  was  the  reason  I  selected  it.  Men  take 
dumb-bell  exercise  or  play  golf  to  keep  their 
bodies  in  trim.  But  how  about  mental  gymnas 
tics  to  keep  the  mind  in  trim!  Any  subject  would 
have  done,  with  the  condition  that  each  writer 
should  look  at  it  in  his  own  way.  I  wanted  to 
see  these  young  fellows  rattle  their  brains  around 
a  bit  and  I  had  a  hundred  dollars  to  spare,  which 
you  won — and  why  should  we  be  standing  here 
when  I  asked  you  to  come  over  to  the  shop?  ' 

Across  the  street  from  The  Beacon  office,  where 


116  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

the  old  bachelor  lived,  he  had  rooms  and  office 
together.  He  went  to  sleep  every  night  to  the 
sound  of  the  presses,  and  up  two  flights  was  the 
Promised  Land  to  the  Big  Fellow.  No  small  li 
brary  bounded  the  scholastic  eccentricity  of  Theo 
dore  Dexter.  In  unbroken  ranks  his  books  stood 
against  the  walls  of  the  large  outer  room,  and 
flanking  a  passage  the  length  of  the  building  the 
visitor  saw,  when  his  host  lighted  another  gas-jet, 
more  files  and  a  desk  by  a  window. 

"  I  call  them  my  soldiers  of  peace, "  said  their 
owner,  "  and  I  am  their  garrison  commander.  I 
have  a  saying  that  a  lawyer  may  know  his  fifty 
books  of  precedent  and  reports  and  rise  to  great 
success,  but  he  must  know  the  thousand  books 
to  be  truly  a  counsellor  of  the  law.  He  must  know 
equity  rather  than  precedent ;  he  must  know  men ; 
he  must  know  the  humanities." 

"  I've  been  taking  a  full  course  in  the  humani 
ties,  "  said  the  Big  Fellow,  and  exhibited  his  cal 
loused  hands. 

"  Most  valuable!  Most!  "  returned  Dexter, 
laughing.  "  But  you  had  not  given  up  the  study 
of  the  law!  "  he  asked. 

' '  I  hadn  't  begun,  except  in  books  I  used  to  pick 
up  in  old  stalls  without  much  regard  to  what 
they  were  so  they  were  law  and  cheap  " — which 
explains  how  he  had  Somebody  on  Torts  in  his 
senior  classical  year. 

"  You  hadn't!  "  with  surprise  subdued  by  a 
train  of  thought,  which  ended  in  more  questions. 

The  Big  Fellow  simply,  as  if  it  were  nothing 


"  YE  DIVIL,  YE!  "  117 

remarkable,  told  his  whole  story,  all  except  the 
secret  which  only  Miss  Two  Braids  should  share 
about  being  a  judge.  When  he  half  excused  him 
self  for  his  decision  by  saying  that  if  he  went 
to  work  for  Colonel  Walker  he  preferred  to  go 
as  a  business  man  rather  than  as  a  lawyer— 
11  Foolish,  but  I  saw  the  law,  my  love  of  the  law, 
that  way" — Theodore  Dexter  said,  "  Eight! 
right!  right!"  with  such  a  military  sharpness 
that  the  sober,  leather-bound  volumes  appeared 
guilty  of  insubordination  in  not  dipping  from 
their  shelves  in  salute. 

"  The  love  of  the  law!  That  is  it!  "  Dexter 
proceeded.  "  Unless  you  love  it  too  much.  I 
loved  it  too  much.  I  expect  Colonel  Walker  is 
glad  I  did.  But — but  I  would  teach  you  that  living 
it  and  making  it  is  better.  All  this,"  nodding  to 
his  books,  "  is  worth  nothing  unless  you  carry  it 
to  somebody — to  somebody  besides  the  experts 
themselves.  To  have  and  not  to  give  is  rank 
selfishness.  With  good  laws  and  broad,  unselfish 
men  to  interpret  them,  there  would  be  a  cessation 
of  bloodshed  in  the  world  and  largely  of  misery." 

He  faced  round,  his  eyes  glowing,  and  put  a 
hand  on  the  Big  Fellow's  shoulder,  caressingly, 
yet  firmly — the  touch  of  appreciation  and  of 
seniority  and  instruction — and  in  the  easy  way 
of  a  man  who  takes  a  discovery  quietly,  he  said: 

"  I  think  we'll  let  the  Colonel  build  the  trolley 
line  without  your  help,  for  I'm  getting  fairly  old. 
I'm  sixty.  My  books  on  the  State  laws  pay  me 
income  enough.  For  thirty  years  I've  been  cover- 


118  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

ing  court  cases  for  The  Beacon.  A  strange  work 
for  me,  in  a  way,  but  it's  been  my  most  service 
able  work/'  (He  might  have  added  that  the 
Judges  read  his  reports  and  thought  of  them 
before  they  made  decisions  and  often  came  to  him 
for  advice.  If  a  law  really  beyond  attack  were 
wanted,  its  promoters  asked  him  to  frame  it. 
As  he  said  once,  sententiously,  however,  business 
was  not  always  so  brisk  in  that  line.)  "  The  Bea 
con  will  keep  up  the  feature  a  while  yet,  but  even 
tually  the  headlines  will  devour  us — yes,  alive,  I 
expect!  IVe  been  looking  for  a  successor.  I've 
found  him  to-night — and  meanwhile,  you  can 
study  law  here  with  me.  I'm  something  of  a  uni 
versity,  myself." 

"  Honest?  "  It  was  a  little  too  good  after 
the  anarchy  of  two  hours  ago. 

"  I  am  not  given  to  the  Spanish  politeness 
which  offers  you  a  house  and  lot,  meaning  that  you 
are  to  take  a  cigarette." 

"  You — you  don't  know — you  can't  know  what 
this  is  to  me!  "  was  all  the  Big  Fellow  could  say. 
"  To  study  here  with  you!  " 

"It's  a  pity  if  old  '48 — and  that  was  a  good 
class,  too — can't  do  a  turn  for  young  '88.  No 
more  thanks.  Why,  of  course  you  couldn't  be 
studying  law.  You've  only  just  been  graduated, 
and,  by  the  way,  that  other  '88  ought  to  have 
finished  his  yarn  by  this  time.  We'll  get  him 
and  have  a  '48- '88  banquet." 

It  was  after  midnight  when  they  were  back 
in  the  street.  A  blaze  of  light  came  from  the 


"  YE  DIVIL,  YE!  "  119 

second  floor  of  The  Beacon  building  and  from  the 
pressroom  in  the  basement,  and  past  the  dim, 
silent  business  office  they  ascended  the  stairs  to 
the  editorial  rooms,  where  they  paused  in  the  door 
way  watching  a  dramatic  scene.  It  was  only  half 
an  hour  before  the  forms  for  the  first  edition  were 
to  close.  All  but  a  few  of  the  reporters  had  fin 
ished  their  work.  They  were  gathered  around 
Willy,  who  was  writing  furiously  with  fingers, 
head,  arms,  and  his  whole  body  and,  to  judge 
by  the  varying  emotions  on  his  face,  living  over 
every  scene  he  was  depicting.  If  the  crowd  at 
Madison  Square  Garden  on  a  circus  night  had 
been  looking  on,  he  would  have  been  undisturbed 
in  his  serious  intensity  of  concentration. 

66  Let  it  run!  Let  it  run!  Don't  be  afraid  of 
length!  "  Booth  called  to  him  for  the  twentieth 
time. 

Plump!  a  second  galley  of  proof  came  up  the 
pneumatic  tube.  As  Booth  read  it  he  snapped 
his  fingers  in  his  excitement. 

"  That's  it!  That's  it!  "  he  shouted.  "  I  al 
ways  said  they  were  born!  " 

His  hair  was  more  touseled  than  ever.  He  had 
removed  his  green  eye-shade  in  honor  of  an  event 
which,  to  that  office,  was  like  the  sudden  birth  of 
some  hero  springing  into  fame  with  a  cavalry 
charge. 

Willy  Sweetser  had  taken  no  literary  course; 
he  had  done  no  writing  except  what  the  average 
college  student  must.  But  his  mind  was  full. 
Every  sentence  snapped  out  a  contributing  idea. 


120  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

His  style,  uncultivated  and  natural,  ran  like  a 
prairie  fire  rather  than  with  the  cultivated,  slow- 
burning,  sinuous  calculation  of  a  fuse.  He  had 
something  to  say  and  he  kept  on  saying  it,  bang- 
bang-bang  ! 

"  Hope  you  fixed  the  curleycues  and  dots  all 
right  and  all  the  set-the-table  business, "  he  re 
marked,  as  he  rose  with  his  last  page  of  copy; 
"  and  maybe  my  spelling  is  a  little  off.  I  never 
could  see  why  l  which  '  shouldn't  be  i  whitch  '- 
and  it's  which,  anyway.  Gee!  But  this  was 
great!  I  even  forgot  to  smoke  ':  —with  a  glance 
at  the  half-burned  cigarette  where  he  had  left  it 
when  he  took  up  the  pencil.  "  H'lo,  Big!  I'm 
yours  for  anything,  now.  I've  written  you  up  in 
a  way  to  make  your  eyes  bulge.  I  haven't  had 
so  much  fun  since  that  night  I  got  up  the  lampoon 
and  pasted  it  on  all  the  professors'  doors  " — a 
famous  occasion,  which  might  have  resulted  in  his 
expulsion  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  Big  Fellow. 

Booth  followed  the  new  reporter  to  the  door 
and  wrung  his  hand. 

1 1  Say,  we  want  to  take  you  on !  "  he  said ;  and 
he  was  praying  in  his  heart  that  here  was  no 
"  one  story  "  man.  No!  He  knew  better.  This 
youngster  had  the  trick.  "  Drop  in  to-morrow 
afternoon." 

"  Think  I  will.  Can  you  give  me  another  one 
to  do — another  one  where  I  can  fill  myself  full 
of  what  it  is  all  about  and  then  dash  it  off  slap 
into  the  faces  of  folks  so  they'll  have  to  read?  ' 

"  You  bet!  "  said  Booth. 


"  YE  DIVIL,  YE!  "  121 

' '  And  will  you  look  after  the  curleycues  1  ' ' 

"  There  isn't  much  trouble  about  them.  Your 
kind  of  copy  punctuates  itself. " 

66  I'll  show  up,  all  right.  Now  for  food.  Say, 
Big,  wouldn't  I  like  to  drop  in  at  Blank's!  "  (a 
chop  house  in  the  college  town).  "  I'm  hungry 
as  a  lean,  hairy,  old  bear  in  the  springtime !  " 

'48,  however,  knew  Blank's  equal  in  the  city. 
Downtown  was  a  restaurant  with  no  row  of  elec 
tric  lights  or  brilliant  chandeliers  to  consume 
money  that  should  go  into  food.  Here  came 
newspaper  men,  lawyers,  or  business  men  who 
had  to  remain  late  at  night  at  their  offices,  and 
sometimes  men  from  the  Union  Club,  served  by 
Jerry,  who  wore  broad,  flat-heeled  shoes,  an  ample 
apron,  and  silver-rimmed  spectacles,  over  which 
he  looked  quizzically  as  he  took  the  order  and 
moved  slowly  but  grandly  away  to  the  grill,  as 
became  a  man  who  had  served  chops  before  you 
were  born.  They  ate  of  that  which  Jerry's  oldest 
customer  ordered  and  talked  of  the  old  school 
till  Jerry  said  it  was  closing  time. 

"  Say,  that  paper  ought  to  be  out  now,  hadn't 
it?  "  Willy  asked,  earnestly.  "  I'd  like  to  see 
it — I'd  like  to  see  it  printing." 

A  man  is  born,  a  man  is  married,  he  fires  a  rifle 
for  the  first  time,  and  for  the  first  time  he  sees 
something  he  wrote  in  actual  print.  From  the 
shelf  of  the  press  Willy  Sweetser — Theodore  Dex 
ter  having  the  open  sesame  to  the  holy  of  holies 
—took  off  the  moist  morning  edition,  while  the 
roar  of  the  multiples  and  the  rattle  of  the  milk- 


122  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

wagons  were  breaking  the  silence  of  the  sleeping 
world.  There  it  was,  his  child,  in  three  columns, 
an  inside-page  ' '  feature, ' '  and  leaded  and  headed 
in  a  way  to  make  the  Big  Fellow,  whose  first  great 
story  was  made  by  himself  for  another  to  write, 
blush  and  shake  his  head.  But  what  could  he 
do?  As  for  Willy,  he  read  his  maiden  effort  all 
through  without  thought  that  anybody  was  wait 
ing  on  him.  Then  he  asked  the  pressman  ques 
tions  and  looked  over  the  machine. 

"  Say,  I'd  like  to  have  one  of  them  for  my 
own!  "  he  declared,  in  his  first  definite  expression 
of  a  real  ambition.     "  Think  of  talking  to  hun 
dreds  of  thousands  of  people  every  morning !  ' 
which  certainly  did  beat  mouth-to-mouth  gossip. 

"  You've  found  yourself,  Willy.  I  always  knew 
you  would;"  and  Big  lifted  him  off  his  feet  with 
a  great  hug. 

Theodore  Dexter  was  for  putting  up  the  '88 's 
in  his  rooms.  But  the  Big  Fellow  thought  he 
ought  to  go  back  to  Pete  and  the  Missus.  They 
were  his  good  friends  and  he  was  sure  they  would 
like  to  know  that  he  had  won  the  essay  prize. 

Then  all  three  were  for  Maloney's  and,  now  that 
they  had  started,  to  make  a  night  of  it.  With  '48 
having  '88  on  either  arm,  they  set  out  through  the 
deserted  streets,  singing  the  old  songs  of  '48  and 
the  modern  songs  of  '88. 

"  Everybody's  been  mighty  good  to  me!  "  said 
the  Big  Fellow,  in  an  interval.  ' '  It 's  a  bully  good 
world,  I  tell  you!" 

"  It's  the  best  ever!     Think  of  it!     I  wrote 


'YE  DIVIL,  YE!  " 

three  whole  columns  without  smoking  a  cigar 
ette!  "  shouted  Willy. 

"  If  you  know  how  to  bring  the  good  out  of 
it,"  said  '48. 

Shortly  after  the  break  of  dawn  they  appeared 
before  the  Maloneys'  door,  wherein  stood  Pete, 
rubbing  his  sleepy  eyes  and  surveying  the 
landscape. 

"  Ye  divil,  ye!  "  he  said.  "  The  top  o'  the 
mornin'  to  yez  all !  Come  in  fer  breakfast.  Shure 
there's  room.  The  childher  can  take  theirs  in 
their  hands." 


XIII 

SOME   VARYING   VIEWS 

A^L  the  world  that  bought  The  Beacon 
regularly  and  some  of  the  world  that 
did  not  buy  it  regularly  read,  the  next 
morning,  the  story  of  how  one  graduate  had 
spent  his  summer  holiday.  It  was  the  way 
the  thing  was  done  as  much  as  the  subject- 
matter  that  caught  public  fancy.  The  reader 
felt  the  writer's  enthusiasm;  the  writer,  he 
knew,  was  not  counting  words  or  pay.  Booth 
called  it  a  "  feature  "  that  amounted  to  a  "  real 
news  beat."  Willy  Sweetser  called  it  "  telling 
everybody  what  everybody  ought  to  know  about 
Big." 

The  view  of  each  of  the  characters  whose 
careers  had  crossed  or  influenced  that  of  the  Big 
Fellow,  throws  light  on  them  and  on  him. 

From  Ned  Walker,  at  a  hunting-camp  in 
Northern  Michigan: 

"  Printed  in  the  newspaper  where  he  worked 
— a  gallery  player,  as  I  always  thought, 
though  I  admire  his  nerve." 
From  Colonel  Walker : 

"  Politician,  damn  him!    Wish  I'd  got  him, 
damn  him!  " 

124 


SOME  VARYING  VIEWS  125 

From  the  old  heavyweight,  "  moreover/'  "  if," 
"  but,"  "  and,"  "  whereas,"  and  "  on  the  other 
hand  "  editorial  writer  of  The  Beacon  to 
Booth: 

"  Yes,  I  read  it  all  through,  I  must  admit; 
but  very  sensational  and — er — youthful — 
and  an  allowance  of  space  out  of  all  keeping 
with  its  news  importance." 
From  Epaminanidad,  who  spelled  cow  out  of 
all  the  headlines : 

"  Mah  min's  jes'  as  kerrected  an*  clear." 
From  Hiram  Hobber,  with  his  thumbs  thrust  in 
the  armholes  of  his  waistcoat,  and  his  feet  on  the 
table: 

"  Didn't  I  tell  you,  Mrs.  Hobber!  Didn't  I 
tell  you,  Mrs.  Hobber !  Now  who  says  that 
I  ain't  a  jedge  of  men!  Yes,  I  am  goin'  to 
hire  them  potatoes  dug — yes,  I  am,  and  I 
don't  care  a  jugful  what  the  neighbors 
say!  " 
From  Kiddy  Witherbee: 

"  Gee!  "  and  again,  "  Gee!  " 
From  Theodore  Dexter : 

"  A    clean    human    document    whose    truth 

shines  out  between  the  writer's  lines." 
From  Pete  Maloney: 

"  It's  more  ye've  been  kapin'  in  the  back  o' 
yer  head,  me  b'y,  than  ye  let  out  o'  yer 
mouth. ' ' 
From  Mrs.  Maloney: 

"  Shure,  the  little  gossoon '11  make  ye  Mayor 
yit,  an'  whin  ye  air  it's  a  place  in  th'  coort- 


126  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

house  f ' r  Pete  I'm  wantin'.    Wouldn't  lie 
look  fine  a-tindin'  door  f'r  the  thrials!  >: 
From  Mrs.  Billings,  of  Poverty  Bow,  when  the 
Big  Fellow  forwarded  her  share  of  the  reward  for 
the  magnum  opus: 

"  I'm  sending  the  five  dollars  right  back;  but 
if  you  ever  come  here  and  don 't  come  to  see 
me,  then  you're  not  half  the  man  I  thought 
you  were." 
From  Kamsdell : 

' 1  How  like  old  Big !    I  can  see  his  eyes  when 

that  gang  jumped  him!  ' 
From  Miss  Two  Braids : 

' '  I  have  two  copies  in  my  room.  I  heard  the 
bees  humming  all  day  so  happily  and  all  the 
fireflies  are  out  with  their  lanterns  and  I 
hear  them  singing  a  little  song  of  joy  to 
night.  But  I'm  proudest  of  the  way  you 
mastered  the  gang.  You  are  a  great  big 
man,  aren't  you,  Big?  I  like  that  better 
than  Mister  Ninety  in  Calculus,  or  Jim,  and 
I  am  going  to  call  you  Big,  as  they  did  at 
college,  after  this." 
From  Aunt  Julia : 

11  My!    My!    MY!  "  and  then,  "  MY!    My! 

My!  "  down  the  scale. 

From  Madame  Mother,  and  she  an  abolitionist : 
"  My!     And  he  worked  beside  negroes  and 

immigrants  like  some  criminal!  ' 
' '  But  he  won  the  essay  prize !  ' '  put  in  Miss  Two 
Braids. 

"  Yes.    My  boy!  "    Still,  he  had  not  taken  his 


SOME  VARYING  VIEWS  127 

own  mother  into  counsel.  These  sensational  head 
lines  shocked  her  sense  of  quiet  respectability. 

"  And  he  is  going  to  study  law,  now,"  Miss 
Two  Braids  added. 

Which  Madame  Mother  admitted  gladly — ' '  but 
he  should  have  told  me  all!  ' 

"  Willy,  you  make  me  feel  foolish,"  the  Big 
Fellow  said  for  himself. 

4 '  Get  out !  You  like  it  in  your  heart,  you  know 
you  do !  "  Willy  returned. 

"  I  like  to  think  you  could  write  it  ancl  that 
you've  found  yourself,  Willy,"  he  replied;  "  and 
no,  I  don't  like  it." 

His  mind  was  not  subjective.  It  had  never 
been  introspective  except  when  he  had  his  moment 
of  anarchy.  He  little  cared  whether  the  whole 
newspaper  was  about  him  or  whether  he  never 
appeared  in  the  headlines  in  all  his  life.  Why 
should  he  when  happiness  had  been  crowned  with 
more  happiness  ?  For  Theodore  Dexter  had  done 
another  thing,  which,  the  more  he  thought  of  it, 
the  more  it  surprised  him.  In  his  heart  he,  too, 
was  a  little  of  an  aristocrat.  Who  is  not!  Pete 
Maloney  certainly  was  that  day  when  he  dropped 
his  pick  and  defied  Colonel  Walker.  The  fact  that 
the  Big  Fellow  was  the  son  of  James  Harden, 
who  was  only  three  classes  ahead  of  himself,  had 
brought  the  offer  to  the  counsellor's  lips  after  it 
had  occurred  to  him  in  the  enthusiasm  of  the  re 
union  of  '48  and  '88. 

"I'm  getting  to  be  too  much  of  a  hermit.  I 
need  company,"  he  said.  "  If  you  want  to  share 


128  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

my  rooms  and  live  with  me,  breakfast  brought  up 
any  hour,  dinners  out,  mostly  at  Jerry's,  or  a 
chop  if  it  is  rainy,  why,  I  would  welcome  you,  and 
any  time  we  disagree,  as  becomes  two  honest  men, 
either  of  us  will  not  hesitate  to  say  so." 

It  should  be  added,  also,  that  the  more  he 
thought  of  this  innovation  the  more  he  liked  it. 
The  prospect  set  something  glowing  in  his  heart 
which  Miss  Two  Braids  would  have  called  the  fire 
flies  of  content  and  peace.  He  had  a  disciple,  now. 
What  man  not  a  blind  egoist  who  reaches  sixty 
without  children  would  not  have  one,  if  he  believes 
that  there  is  any  good  in  him  that  he  would 
perpetuate? 

"  Will  I  come!  "  cried  the  Big  Fellow.  "  Oh, 
will  I!  You  have  given  me  water  and  wings.  I 
was  only  webf ooted  before !  ' ' 

Dexter  and  Willy  had  planned  to  bring  him  back 
to  his  new  quarters  that  morning.  But  he  would 
not  have  such  an  abrupt  leave-taking  of  his  host. 
He  liked  the  Maloney  round  of  the  ladder  so  well 
that  he  was  always  to  make  himself  welcome 
there. 

i  i  No.  I'll  go  to  work  with  Pete  as  usual  to-day, 
and  I  can  tell  McPhane  I'll  quit  to-morrow." 

Of  course,  Colonel  Walker  would  have  called 
him  a  politician  and  Ned  would  have  called  him 
a  gallery  player  for  this. 

"  Now  will  ye  listen  to  him!  "  said  Mrs.  Ma 
loney. 

"  Ye  divil,  ye!  "  said  Pete,  which  was  the  high 
est  compliment  he  could  pay  anyone.  ' '  We  might 


SOME  VARYING  VIEWS  129 

cilibrate  the  gr-rand  day  it  is  be  thrashin'  the 
whole  gang.  Shure,  we  kin  do  it.  Didn't  we  do  it 
oncet?  " 

In  high  feather,  though  in  overalls,  they  went 
away  together.  McPhane  blinked  and  shook  his 
head  over  a  puzzle  past  his  understanding.  The 
gang  who  had  heard  the  news  stared  at  the  Big 
Fellow  in  wonder  as  they  saw  him  drop  into 
action  with  his  pick.  Some  of  the  cynical  ones 
thought  the  whole  thing  a  "  newspaper  fake.77 
Pete,  however,  enlightened  them.  He  was  orating 
all  day,  and  according  to  the  Big  Fellow's  rule  of 
pay  for  work  done,  Pete  belonged  on  this  day  in 
a  special  class  by  himself  of  fifty-cents-a-day  men. 
That  night  the  Big  Fellow  said  good-by  to  his 
fellow-laborers  and  shook  hands  with  all,  includ 
ing  the  negro  whom  he  had  felled. 

"  Maka  de  run  for  office  me  vota  for  you,"  said 
the  Italian. 

"  Yes,  he'll  be  going  into  politics,"  said  Willy 
Sweetser,  who  was  present  on  the  way  to  get 
facts  for  a  new  story. 

The  repetition  of  that  idea  amused  Big,  who 
had  about  as  much  thought  of  politics  as  of 
pugilism. 

"  It's  the  gr-rand  day  it's  been,"  Pete  told  Big 
that  night,  when  he  went  to  his  place  on  the  porch 
for  the  last  time,  "  an'  it's  har-rd  an'  joyful  ye '11 
hit  the  pillow  to-night." 

It  was  long  after  nine  when  he  awoke  and  Pete, 
who  had  made  a  holiday  in  honor  of  his  departure, 
was  the  first  to  greet  him.  Shure,  'twas  Pete 


130  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

that  was  going  to  see  the  "  stahr  boarder  "  safely 
into  his  new  quarters. 

"  God  bliss  ye!  "  called  Mrs.  Maloney,  from 
the  doorway. 

"  God  bless  you,  Mrs.  Maloney,  and  all  the 
children !  ' '  he  answered. 

"  An'  whin  ye 're  Mayor,"  said  she — "  an'  it's 
Mayor  that  live  wire  of  a  gossoon  '11  be  makin'  ye 
with  his  noospaper  spakin' — remimber  Pete's  to 
have  a  place  in  the  coorthouse." 


XIV 

FOR    A    CITY 

PRESENTLY,  exercising  a  novelist's  priv 
ilege,  by  making  the  Roman  numeral  II 
we  shall  span  a  decade,  in  which  Miss 
Two  Braids,  on  whose  moods  we  are  to  wait, 
grows  from  girlhood  to  womanhood,  and  the 
other  characters  are  making  their  careers. 
It  seems  worth  while,  however,  to  give  a  few 
glimpses  of  them  in  the  course  of  the  years  which 
hurry  by  to  the  heart  of  things.  But  anyone  who 
chooses  may  turn  over  the  pages  to  the  heart  of 
things  at  once,  at  the  risk  of  missing  a  part  of  the 
mind  of  things. 

That  same  reporter  who  was  the  author  of  the 
"  elephant  and  peanut "  simile  gave  Sweetser  the 
name  of  "  The  Hummer, "  which  stuck,  for  Willy, 
it  was  said,  ran  by  electricity  like  the  presses. 
His  rapid  rise  in  newspaperdom,  which  may  storm 
a  position  every  morning,  had  its  likeness  in  the 
rise  of  lieutenants  to  division  command  in  the 
Civil  War. 

When  his  father,  the  minister,  heard  of  his  first 
success  he  wrote : 

"  William,  you  know  I  have  never  allowed  a 

131 


132  THE  EIG  FELLOW 

Sunday  paper  in  our  house.  I  hope  you  are  not 
working  for  the  Sunday  editions." 

And  Willy  answered:  "  The  Sunday  is  made 
up  on  Saturday. " 

Said  the  father:  "  This  is  a  quibble,  I  fear. 
How  about  the  Monday?  ' 

Said  the  son :  ' '  We  must  get  that  out  on  Sun 
day  night,  so  you  famished  Monday  readers  will 
have  some  news." 

Later,  he  sent  the  happy  word  that  he  had 
stopped  the  eternal  smoking  of  cigarettes. 

"  You  see  now  what  I  escaped — being  a  satu 
rated,  third-rate,  aimless  doctor,  who  sickened  his 
patients  with  tobacco  fumes." 

But  he  took  no  credit  for  reform.  It  was  a  part 
of  his  reborning. 

"  I  simply  am  so  busy  I  forget  to  smoke,"  to 
use  his  own  words.  ' '  I  love  this  work.  I  love  it 
for  itself  and  the  explosions." 

His  widening  vision,  with  a  certain  genius  for 
grasping  essentials,  mapped  the  whole  city  in  its 
people,  its  interests  and  their  character.  This 
was  a  bad  newspaper  town,  as  newspaper  men 
said.  Its  public  spirit  was  low;  a  rival  city  was 
surpassing  it  in  population  and  increase  of  in 
dustry,  and  the  situation  was  due  more  than 
he  or  the  citizens  realized  to  John  Byng.  Cun 
ningly  Byng  had  dominated  the  newspaper  situa 
tion  with  his  Courier,  which  salaciously  taught 
people  to  love  scandal  and  crime  in  order  that  he 
might  feed  them  more.  Living  partly  in  Wash 
ington  and  partly  abroad,  his  influence  for  sale, 


FOR  A  CITY  133 

his  one  criterion  was  income.  "  I  don't  care 
where  it  comes  from  so  I  get  it, "  as  he  said. 

Willy's  eye  was  on  that  broken-down  Sentinel, 
whose  succeeding  owners  had  found  that  an  organ 
which  obeyed  your  orders  was  an  expensive  lux 
ury.  Once  more  in  its  tattered  career  of  the  gut 
ters,  from  millionaire's  door  to  millionaire's  door, 
it  was  for  sale.  In  an  hour  after  he  heard  the 
news,  a  wiry  little  man  with  a  puggish  nose  and 
snappy  black  eyes  and  quick,  nervous  gestures 
was  sitting  in  the  sacred  chair  beside  Colonel 
Walker's  desk.  The  Colonel  knew  him  well.  No 
leading  citizen  could  easily  help  knowing  The 
Hummer. 

"  Yes,  I've  heard  The  Sentinel  is  for  sale," 
said  the  Colonel,  for  he  never  admitted  that  any 
body  knew  any  inside  matters  of  the  financial 
world  before  himself.  "  I  owned  one  newspaper 
and  that  cost  me  enough.  Bather  waste  my  money 
on  a  country  place  that  I  never  visit. ' ' 

"  I  don't  want  you  to  buy  it.  I  want  to  borrow 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars  from  you.  I'm  go 
ing  to  do  the  buying  myself." 

The  Colonel  forsook  his  whinny  for  a  whistle. 

"  You  do,  eh!    On  what  security?  " 

"  On  this!  "  and  Willy  tapped  his  forehead. 
"  The  same  kind  of  security  with  which  you  be 
gan  life  and  with  which  you  have  made  your  for 
tune.  One  hundred  thousand  going  into  new 
presses.  Other  hundred  needed  to  get  things 
started.  You'll  take  a  mortgage  for  five  hundred 
thousand  for  three  years,  regular  interest  and 


134  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

profit  of  three  hundred  thousand.  How's  that  for 
a  speculation?  At  the  end  of  three  years  I  own 
the  paper  or  I'm  busted — bankrupt — finished,  and 
the  wreckage  is  yours." 

' '  Will    I    have    anything    to    say    about    its 
policy?  "  asked  the  Colonel,  amused. 

"  No.    Nobody  but  me." 

"  Hammer  me,  I  suppose,  'long  with  the 
others!  " 

"  Maybe — very  likely,  sometimes.  I  don't  want 
a  paper  otherwise.  I'm  not  going  to  sell  my  soul 
for  a  mess  of  pottage,  but  I  want  some  pottage  to 
give  my  soul  a  chance.  If,  as  a  railroad  man,  you 
put  all  the  sons  of  all  your  friends  in  all  the  jobs 
and  gave  pink  teas  in  the  offices  and  dressed  the 
engineers  in  silks  and  interfered  with  the  traffic 
manager's  getting  up  excursions  because  you 
didn't  like  excursions  yourself,  you  wouldn't 
make  much  money.  Your  bankers  wouldn't  if 
they  had  to  loan  money  to  anybody  on  his  social 
standing  without  security.  Well,  no  outsider  can 
boss  a  newspaper.  It's  a  business  of  itself.  I'm 
going  to  tell  everybody  everything  and  tell  all 
'  that's  fit  to  print.'  There's  enough  the  old 
Courier  doesn't  tell  every  day  to  make  a  big  cir 
culation.  ' ' 

"  Nobody  that  wanted  me  to  buy  a  paper  ever 
talked  in  that  way, ' '  whinnied  the  Colonel.  ' l  But 
I've  got  no  money,  young  man.  I'm  borrowing 
from  the  banks  all  the  time  myself.  Ne-eh!  Go 
ing  to  hammer  Byng  any?  "  he  asked. 

"  All  the  time!    All  the  time!  "    Willy  beat  a 


\ 


\  want  to  borrow  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  from  you. 


FOR  A  CITY  135 

tattoo  of  delight  on  the  arm  of  his  chair.  "  I'm 
longing  to  get  at  that  gold  pig. ' ' 

"  Gold  pig,  eh?  "  The  Colonel  chuckled. 
66  Won't  be  much  room  to  hammer  me  if  you  are 
going  to  hammer  Byng  so  hard,  eh  1  " 

"  I  hope  you  know  that  no  honest  man  would 
ever  think  of  putting  you  two  in  the  same  class. 
Why,  Colonel,  you  are  a  great  builder,  though  you 
can't  have  everything  your  own  way  any  more 
than  anyone  else  can.  Fact  is,  I've  a  private  rat 
ing — "  and  the  Colonel  had  to  laugh  over  the 
idea — "  for  every  important  citizen  of  this  town. 
Our  present  Mayor  is  about  "+'  10  in  official  ef 
ficiency.  The  County  Clerk  is  —  10.  Boss  Birch 
is  +  60  as  a  boss.  Jim  Harden 's  +  100  in  the 
light  and  the  law.  You  are  +  100  in  corporate 
efficiency  "  (which  did  not  displease  the  Colonel) 
"  and  Byng's  in  a  class  by  himself.  He's  +  100 
gold  pig.  But  I  won't  promise  not  to  criticise  you 
— no,  sir !  "quoth  this  new  censor  of  public  morals. 
"  And  I'm  not  going  to  tear  down.  I'm  going  to 
help  build." 

1 '  Likable  little  lunatic !  Full  of  ginger  and  hon 
est  in  his  lunacy  or  he  wouldn't  talk  up  to  me  that 
way,"  thought  the  Colonel.  Willy  was  at  least 
one  inch  shorter  than  the  Colonel,  and  the  Colonel 
called  everyone  little  who  wasn't  at  least  four 
inches  taller  than  himself.  "  Ne-eh!  If  your 
ability  is  equal  to  your  damned  impertinence  it 
won't  take  you  long  to  own  all  the  newspapers  in 
the  country !  Well,  confound  you !  suppose  we  go 
over  and  see  Brooks  at  the  bank.  I  never  got  hold 


136  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

of  the  newspaper  business  as  a  business  just  this 
way  before.  Thought  nobody  but  jackals  like 
Byng  with  a  yaller  streak  could  make  it  pay — in 
this  town,  anyway.  Put  it  up  to  Brooks  as  a  busi 
ness  proposition.  Talk  right  up  to  him  just  the 
way  you  have  to  me !  ' 

With  hope  giving  him  a  richer  vocabulary, 
Willy,  in  a  cataract  of  ideas  and  precious  little 
spray,  pressed  the  banker,  who  quietly  pressed 
him  with  telling  business  questions  which  Willy 
met  with  aggressive  answers. 

"  And  you're  going  to  have  a  go  at  Byng?  ' 
Brooks  finally  asked,  almost  greedily,  unctuous  as 
was  his  manner. 

The  attraction  of  the  plan  as  a  speculation  to 
both  capitalists  was  heightened  by  the  fervent 
hope  that  the  "  little  lunatic  "  might  manage  to 
land  on  Byng;  and  Byng  they  loathed  and 
feared  for  what  he  was.  He  had  blackmailed  them 
for  traction  stock;  he  knew  no  morals.  "  A  curse 
to  the  city,"  they  said,  and  suffered  him. 

"  I  own  a  newspaper,  all  my  own!  I  own  a 
newspaper !  ' '  the  Big  Fellow  heard  over  the  tele 
phone  and  something  else  that  sounded  like  i  i  fire 
works  ; ' '  for  Willy  had  already  rung  off  and  was 
calling  up  Booth,  whom  he  wanted  as  managing 
editor. 

"  William  Sweetser  "  he  put  at  the  head  of  the 
editorial  columns  and  underneath,  "  Tell  Every 
body  and  Tell  All— That's  Fit  to  Print."  The 
dead  rose  to  life.  At  first,  the  people  saw  that  The 
Sentinel  was  different.  Then  it  became  a  ques- 


FOR  A  CITY  137 

tion  of  "  What  has  The  Sentinel  on  its  mind  to 
day?  "  and  everybody  wanted  to  know. 

We  see  Willy  in  action,  with  a  stenographer  at 
his  elbow — the  stenographer  attended  to  the  cur- 
ley  cues  and  the  "  whitches  " — and  telephones 
ringing,  office  boys  running,  and  proofs  flying  on 
and  off  his  desk,  organizing  his  army  and  loving 
to  stay  late  at  night  with  the  presses. 

Booth's  hair  is  still  touseled;  he  still  wears  the 
green  eye-shade  and  snaps  his  fingers  in  delight 
over  any  good  features ;  but  he  is  another  man,  no 
longer  a  mercenary  with  his  tongue  in  his  cheek, 
his  genius  no  longer  suppressed.  All  these  young 
men  in  the  outer  room  also  have  the  spirit  of  a 
craft,  of  a  service,  of  a  cause.  From  The  Courier 
youngsters  came,  from  towns  far  and  near,  asking 
for  apprenticeship.  Change,  change;  surprise, 
surprise,  in  all  honest  purpose  is  the  rule  of 
Willy's  nature  that  catches  the  public. 

"  You're  going  to  write  about  the  result  of  the 
caucuses  to-morrow,"  he  says  to  the  editorial 
writers.  "  Let's  you  and  I  go  to  some  caucus! 
Get  next  the  people!  Move  about!  That'll  give 
you  more  than  you  can  get  out  of  books.  And 
we're  making  good.  We're  winning  friends; 
we're  spreading  the  light." 

"  So  many,  many  words  about  Henry  James 
who  writes  so  many  words  which  so  few  people 
read  " — this  to  the  literary  editor.  "  Tell  us 
about  this  Smith  and  his  ' Heart's  Hero'  story  that 
thousands  are  devouring.  Why  are  they?  Take 
the  heart  out  of  the  story  and  out  of  Smith  and 


138  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

slap  it  under  a  two-column  head  for  the  Sunday. 
Just  talk  it  off!  Say  something  with  every  sen 
tence  !  Say  it,  looking  the  reader  in  the  eye !  And 
why  not  answer  this  question  next  week :  '  Why 
does  everybody  talk  about  Henry  James  without 
reading  him?  '  " 

"  Go  out  to  lunch  with  the  shopgirls  " — this  to 
the  editor  of  the  Woman's  Page.  "  Meet  Mrs. 
Jones,  who  keeps  the  little  candy  shop;  and  Mrs. 
Gorman,  who  is  raising  ten  in  a  three-room  flat. 
We  mustn't  be  too  introspective." 

' '  Let 's  organize  a  lot  of  our  newsboys  into  a  bat 
talion,  give  'em  a  uniform,  have  the  Mayor  review 
'em  and  have  'em  salute  the  police  " — this  to 
Booth.  "  It  will  teach  them  manners  and 
straighten  out  growing  spinal  columns.  We'll 
publish  a  photograph  of  'em  saluting.  Let  'em 
appoint  a  committee  to  choose  a  uniform!  Let 
'em  choose  a  commander!  Interview  the  com 
mander!  And  we  want  everybody  to  read,  eh, 
Booth! — and  we've  got  a  mission,  too,  besides  the 
fireworks  and  the  fun  we're  having." 

In  the  small  hours,  while  the  reporters  lingered 
— and  they  grew  to  have  a  fondness  for  the  office- 
feeling,  like  soldiers  on  the  breastworks  after  the 
fight,  that  they  ought  not  to  go  before  the  General 
went,  he  would  come  out  of  his  own  room  and 
probably  put  his  hand  on  some  youngster's  shoul 
der  and  say: 

"  That  was  a  bully  story  of  yours!  '  Then  he 
might  ask:  "  What  do  you  think  is  wrong  with 
the  paper?  How  would  you  change  it?  " 


FOR  A  CITY  139 

The  reporter  would  tell  him  candidly,  which 
was  The  Sentinel  way. 

'  <  Well,  let 's  try  it, ' '  Willy  would  say.  <  '  We  're 
certainly  making  things  hum!  We're  going  to 
win  out !  We  are !  ' ' 

We  fear  that  The  Sentinel  was  sensational.  This 
was  all  but  a  conviction  in  a  quiet  country  parson 
age  where  the  Eeverend  Sweetser  hoped  for  the 
best.  But  one  of  his  son's  letters,  at  least,  began 
well.  It  had  a  new  quality: 

"  I  see  you  with  the  study-light  on  your  face, 
dad,  puzzled  over  these  headlines,"  he  wrote. 
' '  But  just  think  that  your  boy  has  a  flock,  too ! 
Yours  is  a  fine,  quiet  one  and  you  cannot  give 
them  much  news  or  increase  circulation  much.  I 
can !  Here 's  a  whole  city  and  I  have  to  make  'em 
read.  You  use  hymns  and  I  use  fireworks  to 
get  'em. 

* i  I  know  I  wasted  my  time  at  college.  I  ought 
to  have  studied  harder — but  it's  too  late  and  I'm 
too  busy,  now,  and  I've  got  Big  to  fall  back  on.  I 
owe  it  all  to  Big — all  the  good  of  it.  When  I  get 
wrong  I  go  to  him.  He  straightens  me  out  on  the 
moral  path — he  and  Uncle  Theodore.  Big's  a 
power.  '  You're  going  too  far,'  he  says.  And  I 
say:  'We've  got  to  have  the  pottage.  The 
cashier's  calling  for  dough.'  And  I  slow  down.  Or 
maybe  he  says:  *  Keep  on  firing!  You've  got  a 
good  cause.' 

"  Some  day  I'm  going  to  bring  my  newsboy 
battalion  up  for  a  holiday  in  the  country.  We'll 
camp  out  in  Thorn's  woods  and  have  the  time  of 


140  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

our  lives.  You'll  preach  'em  a  sermon — and  make 
it  a  short  one,  won't  you?  But  that's  got  to  wait 
on  more  money  than  I  have  now.  It's  a  hot  fight 
—and  I  do  love  the  explosions." 

The  Reverend  Sweetser  sighed  over  this.  He 
found  it  enlightening  on  some  things;  on  others 
he  was  in  deeper  doubt  than  ever.  The  closing 
sentence  sounded  like  anarchy.  It  destroyed  the 
effect  of  the  filial  love  of  the  first. 

But  the  Reverend  Sweetser  little  knew  the 
nature  of  the  antagonist  his  son  was  fighting.  A 
tremor  of  dismay  had  gone  out  from  the  office  of 
The  Courier  to  Washington.  The  great  absentee 
gave  up  a  yachting  party  and  came  back  himself 
to  take  command  and  crush  a  rival  in  its  infancy. 
Now,  of  his  kind,  Byng  was  a  devil-genius.  Mr. 
Trennet,  a  smug,  hired  creature  who  always 
rubbed  his  hands  and  talked  in  whispers,  was  his 
local  manager.  Willy  called  him  the  trough- 
bearer  and  put  him  at  —  90  as  a  newspaper  man. 
The  principal  on  returning,  with  wealth  at  his  call, 
hesitated  at  nothing.  He  blackmailed  The  Senti 
nel's  advertisers  away  from  it;  increased  the  size 
of  his  paper,  made  a  cut  to  the  newsdealers,  and 
tried  to  bribe  Willy 's  reporters  to  leave  him.  But 
they  generally  remained. 

"  It's  a  fight  for  a  city!  "  Willy  said  one  day  to 
the  Big  Fellow. 

"  If  you  see  it  that  way,  it  is.  If  I  had  a  million 
dollars  I'd  give  it  all  to  you  to  go  on,"  said  Big. 

Word  was  passed  to  the  financial  community 
that  The  Sentinel  could  not  hold  out  much  longer. 


FOR  A  CITY  141 

Credit  grew  difficult.  Willy  was  oftener  in  the 
business  office  than  in  the  editorial  rooms,  without 
any  cessation  in  his  attacks  on  Byng. 

With  a  great  "  spread  "  one  Monday  morning 
he  made  the  city  ring.  Before  the  day  was  over 
he  found  that  Gudger,  the  witness  who  stood  for 
his  facts,  had  left  the  city,  destination  unknown; 
and  the  next  morning  came  the  libel  suit  for  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars. 

"  We'll  not  be  long,  now,"  said  Byng.  "  I 
might  offer  him  a  job  when  he's  bust  !" 

And  Mr.  Trennet,  who  was  always  called  Mister, 
rubbed  his  hands  and  whispered  his  admiration. 


XV 

PLOWING,   PLOWING,   PLOWING 

NEITHER  member  of  the  firm  of  Dexter  and 
Harden — old  wine  and  young  wine  from 
the  same  bush — had  any  reason  for  re 
gretting  a  partnership  formed  on  such  short 
acquaintance.  Willy  made  a  third  in  spirit,  but 
was  too  irregular  in  his  habits  to  be  one  of  them 
in  any  other  respect. 

When  Dexter 's  old  housekeeper  died,  who  do 
you  think  took  her  place?  Well,  who?  None 
other,  as  the  old-fashioned  novelist  says,  than  our 
old  friend  Mrs.  Billings,  of  Poverty  Eow. 

' '  With  two  mildly  insane  men  to  look  after  and 
one  raving  lunatic — raving  but  cheerful — running 
in  and  out  and  two  student  lamps  to  keep  filled,  I 
am  loaded  down  with  responsibility/'  she  would 
explain;  "  and  with  them  never  taking  their  din 
ners  in,  I  really  haven't  enough  to  do  to  keep  my 
mind  out  of  mischief." 

She  was  genuinely  jealous  of  Jerry,  of  the 
grand  air  and  flat-heeled  shoes,  all  unknown  to 
Jerry. 

"  He's  a  slatternly  critter,  I'll  warrant,"  she 
declared,  "  and  things  aren't  cooked  any  too  clean 
in  that '  hole  in  the  wall,'  either!  ' 

142 


PLOWING,  PLOWING,  PLOWING          143 

1 '  With  you  our  menage  is  perfect, ' '  said  Uncle 
Theodore,  as  the  Big  Fellow  called  him. 

i '  If  you  think  you  can  fool  me  with  your  dead 
languages  you're  mistaken,"  she  returned.  "  If 
you  had  any  real  reason  for  not  eating  at  home 
you'd  give  it  in  English.  It's  just  another  way  of 
saying  opus,  that  Mister  Big  Fellow  always  fell 
back  on  when  he  knew  that  he  hadn't  a  single  ar 
gument  on  his  side." 

That  promise  of  being  something  of  a  university 
himself  Theodore  Dexter  had  fulfilled  in  letter  and 
spirit.  More  than  this,  he  was  a  disciplinarian. 

"  Put  up  that  book,  my  disciple!  "  he  would 
say.  "  You're  falling  into  the  same  error  I  did. 
I'm  not  going  to  let  you  waste  your  life  the  way  I 
have  mine.  All  these  " — with  a  wave  of  his  hand 
to  the  books — ' '  are  but  agents  to  help  you  under 
stand  humanity.  They  are  fleshless  unless  you 
study  humanity,  and  humanity  is  but  flesh  without 
them.  Come,  put  it  up!  Let's  go  and  tell  Boss 
Birch  what  a  selfish,  narrow-minded  politician  he 
is.  You'll  get  no  dead  languages  from  him,  as 
Mrs.  Billings  would  say." 

The  Big  Fellow  kept  on  with  his  law  reports 
for  The  Beacon  even  after  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar,  and  Kiddy  Witherbee,  having  studied  stenog 
raphy  in  odd  hours,  took  his  dictation  faithfully 
and  oh,  how  proudly,  night  after  night. 

"  Boss,  that  was  a  good  piece;  "  or,  "  Boss,  you 
are  more  at  home  in  this  kind  of  work  than  you 
were  in  having  Eddy  Smith  pushed  when  he 
wasn't,"  Kiddy,  solemn  and  bespectacled,  would 


144  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

say,  as  he  closed  his  notebook.  It  was  a  privilege 
which  the  "  friend  at  court  "  seemed  to  enjoy  to 
call  the  Big  Fellow  ' '  Boss  ' '  when  they  were  alone ; 
and  Kiddy  himself  was  going  to  night  school  to  get 
all  the  learning  he  could,  considering  that  he  was 
the  sole  support  of  his  mother,  '  *  and  that  has  al 
ways  kept  me  pretty  busy,  Boss,"  to  use  his  own 
words. 

Uncle  Theodore's  fear  that  his  disciple  might 
become  a  recluse  was  more  playful  than  real,  as  he 
well  knew.  A  good  practice  was  accruing  and  of 
the  kind  Big  liked.  Some  of  it  brought  in  but 
small  fees,  if  any,  and  some  was  profitable.  When 
men  did  not  want  to  go  to  law  against  somebody 
but  wanted  to  know  the  law  they  sought  his  ad 
vice,  which  was  cheaper  in  the  end.  People  from 
the  water-front  wards  had  a  way  of  coming  to 
consult  him  when  they  were  in  trouble  instead  of 
going  to  brilliant  political  orators  nearer  home. 

Nor  was  "  that  damned  politician  "  altogether 
out  of  politics.  He  has  been  guilty  of  that  offense 
so  often  that  it  would  be  prejudicial,  though  he 
faced  superior  numbers  as  usual,  to  say  that  he 
did  have  to  knock  down  any  member  of  a  gang  of 
ballot-box  staffers  in  those  days  of  a  cruder  ballot 
system  than  a  later  generation  enjoys.  He  was 
in  one  campaign,  particularly,  with  all  his  might 
and  working  hard  for  a  principle  against  Boss 
Birch,  with  whom,  nevertheless,  he  was  always  on 
good-natured  personal  relations. 

' '  He's  the  kind  that  laughs  if  he's  licked,"  said 
the  Boss,  "  and  laughs  if  he  wins,  and  never  gets 


PLOWING,  PLOWING,  PLOWING          145 

mad,  and  is  always  on  the  job;  and  they're  a  bad 
kind  to  beat ' ' — for  Big  cost  the  Boss  a  heavy  loss 
of  votes  in  one  of  his  wards. 

For  everybody,  indeed,  he  had  a  smile,  a 
thorough-going,  all-wool  kind  of  a  smile.  He 
went  about  a  great  deal  and  he  had  in  an  easy 
way  the  faculty  of  meeting  all  kinds  of  men. 
Faces  and  names  he  remembered,  and,  in  turn,  no 
one  who  had  once  shaken  his  hand  was  likely  to 
forget  that  big  fellow.  Many  talks  he  made  at 
many  gatherings.  Usually  these  lacked  the  sen 
sation  for  headlines.  His  hearers,  at  first  think 
ing  him  dry,  listened  to  the  end  and  went  away 
with  the  comfortable  feeling  that  they  had  heard 
the  rights  of  the  question,  without  any  striving  for 
effect. 

"  Shure,  people  likes  ye  because  ye  like 
thim,"  said  Mrs.  Maloney,  who  was  perfectly  cer 
tain  that  one  day  Pete  was  going  to  have  a  place 
in  the  courthouse. 

' '  Yes,  I  do  like  them, ' '  he  answered. 

Plowing,  plowing,  plowing;  firm  hand  and 
straight  furrow  and  laughing  over  the  roots,  he 
continued  to  cultivate  the  field  which  was  one  day 
to  bear  some  kind  of  harvest. 

"I'm  dished!  "  was  the  way  Willy  Sweetser 
put  the  situation  after  his  witness  Gudger  had 
escaped,  as  he  sank  limply  into  a  chair  in  Dexter 's 
library.  l '  Yes !  But  that 's  no  way  to  talk.  It 's 
not  that  a  big  damage  suit  would  bankrupt  me, 
and  it  would,  but  it's  being  beaten  by  the  Gold 


146  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

Pig.  It's  being  shown  up  wrong  when  everybody 
on  the  inside  knows  he  is  guilty — wrong  because 
I  can't  prove  this  one  point. 

"  Of  course,"  Willy  went  on,  "  if  I  had  the 
money  I  could  trace  the  man  and  buy  him  back. 
That's  what  it  amounts  to.  I  haven't  the  money. 
And  now  what  do  you  suppose  that  the  Gold  Pig 
has  been  doing!  You  know  how  he  tried  to  break 
up  my  newsboy  battalion  and  how  the  little 
bricks  stuck  to  me.  Well,  he's  working  through 
their  parents,  even  evicting  widowed  mothers  for 
non-payment  of  rent.  I  promote  him.  He's 
;+  150  son  of  a  gun!  He's  got  Boss  Birch  on  his 
side,  because  the  Boss  thinks  I'm  dished  and  the 
Boss  is  in  the  same  boat  with  him  on  this  deal. 
But  I'm  not!  I'll  show  'em  yet!  "  he  cried  de 
fiantly,  his  voice  high  pitched,  while  his  whole 
frame  trembled  with  anger  and  desperation. 

"  Willy,  will  you  let  me  take  the  case?  "  the  Big 
Fellow  asked. 

"  And  I'd  like  to  help,"  Theodore  Dexter  added, 
firmly. 

Willy  drummed  the  chair  arm  with  nervous 
fingers  and  scowled  in  thought. 

"  Big,  you're  another  kind  of  lawyer.  You 
don't  know  this  gang  I'm  dealing  with." 

"  I  know  a  little  about  them,  Willy,  and  I'm 
quite  a  hand  for  studying,"  he  answered,  con 
fidently. 

"  I  can't  prove  anything,  Big.  It's  no  case 
without  Gudger.  And  yet  if  Colonel  Walker  or 
Brooks  would  tell  the  truth,  they'd  be  better  than 


PLOWING,  PLOWING,  PLOWING          147 

Gudger — but  they  won't.  Of  course  not!  It 
would  put  them  in  jail  along  with  Birch.  No,  it's 
no  case  and  no  reputation  for  you." 

This  brought  the  Big  Fellow  to  his  feet.  He 
was  intense  as  he  said: 

"  Confound  the  reputation!    I'm  your  friend." 

"  Old  Big !  There  is  none  like  you !  When  you 
speak  that  way  it's  settled.  We'll  make  or  break 
together  in  this  case.  We  '11  get  a  breathing  space, 
anyway.  With  all  these  books  you've  studied  you 
ought  to  be  a  wonder  at  the  i  law's  delays.'  " 

The  Big  Fellow  stiffened. 

' '  No !  For  immediate  trial — as  if  we  were  con 
fident,"  he  said,  quietly.  "Immediate!  Eight 
does  not  wait  on  the  law's  delays." 

"  Yes,  Big,  but  the  cashier's  office,"  Willy  re 
turned,  slowly.  Then  he  saw  what  he  thought  was 
the  Big  Fellow's  point  and  sprang  to  his  feet, 
color  back  in  the  pale  face,  which  lighted  with  its 
old-time  volatile  energy.  ' i  Yes !  Of  course ! 
Great  guns !  You  're  a  better  newspaper  man  than 
I  am!  I'll  spread  on  this  to-morrow!  I'll  say  we 
have  Byng  where  we  want  him !  We  accuse  him ! 
He  sues !  Let  him  be  heard — the  sooner  the  bet 
ter  !  Shall  I  bluff  it  that  strong  f  ' ' 

"  You  can't  make  it  too  strong,  Willy,  and  be 
sure  of  your  facts,"  and  he  gripped  Willy's  shoul 
ders  till  Willy's  bones  ached.  "  Not  too  strong! 
Leave  the  rest  to  me.  I  want  a  chance  to  study 
John  Byng  and  to  beat  him!  " 

Willy  felt  almost  afraid  of  the  Big  Fellow,  he 
seemed  so  rigid  in  look,  in  manner,  and  in  body. 


148  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  I'm  always  seeing  new  sides  to  you.  And 
your  eyes  never  laugh,  do  they,  Big?  They're  al 
ways  calm  and  kind." 

Willy's  did  laugh,  and  they  could  storm  and 
sparkle  and  flash  and  smile.  Now  they  snapped 
with  the  daring  of  a  man  who  fights  for  his  king 
dom  with  a  show  of  bayonets  of  painted  lath. 

The  Big  Fellow  was  in  command.  Without  any 
apparent  consciousness  of  Dexter 's  presence  he 
paced  back  and  forth,  back  and  forth,  at  intervals 
shooting  out  his  right  arm  as  if  he  had  the  enemy 
bodily  incarnated  before  him.  Uncle  Theodore 
pulled  a  chair  out  of  the  way  to  make  the  course 
free  and  he  would  not  have  been  surprised  to  see 
the  giant  go  through  the  wall,  leaving  a  hole  that 
would  have  silhouetted  his  figure. 

"  I'd  like  to  see  Colonel  Walker  when  he's  sub 
poenaed,"  Big  said,  when  he  stopped  pacing,  and 
broke  into  a  laugh.  "  Here  I  am,"  he  went  on, 
taking  another  turn  up  and  down  the  room, if'  with 
my  one  ambition  to  be  a  judge  and  I'm  to  defeat 
the  law — if  I  can !  I  believe  it  is  right  for  Willy 
and  against  Byng — by  the  thousand  books  I  do !  ' 

"  So  you  laugh  about  it?  "  Uncle  Theodore  in 
terjected. 

* '  I  usually  do  laugh  when  anything  comes  hard. 
Then  is  the  time  to  extract  the  humor  of  the  situa 
tion,  if  there  is  any, ' '  was  the  only  explanation  the 
Big  Fellow  could  offer  of  his  action. 

"  So  he  wants  to  be  a  judge !  ' '  thought  Dexter, 
who  was  the  second  beside  the  principal  to  be  in 


PLOWING,  PLOWING,  PLOWING          149 

the  secret.  Confidentially  he  told  it  to  Willy,  mak 
ing  a  third.  Uncle  Theodore  was  inclined  to 
think  that  the  Big  Fellow  was  fitted  for  a  career 
more  active  than  that  of  the  bench,  although  he 
could  not  definitely  fix  in  his  mind  what  this 
should  be.  The  ambition  of  his  disciple  had  once 
been  his  own,  in  which  he  had  failed  because  he 
would  not  play  the  kind  of  politics  which  chose 
the  judges  of  that  section;  and  he  was  resolved 
that  fulfilment  this  time  must  come  for  the  sake  of 
the  judiciary  of  that  State,  the  thousand  books, 
and  all  that  he  held  dear. 

When  Byng,  who  had  employed  the  "  best  coun 
sel  in  the  State,"  heard  the  names  of  the  lawyers 
for  the  defense  he  languidly — for  languor  was  his 
favorite  affectation — asked  Mr.  Trennet  why 
Sweetser  had  not  retained  a  bishop  and  a  college 
dean,  a  joke  over  which  Mr.  Trennet  rubbed  his 
hands  most  unctuously.  The  Sentinel  kept  up 
its  bombardment  with,  "  Three  weeks  and  two 
days  to  the  trial!  "  at  the  head  of  the  edito 
rial  columns  one  morning;  "  Three  weeks  and 
one  day  till  the  public  hears  the  truth!  "  the 
next. 

Byng  was  equally  impatient  that  the  "  new 
school  of  journalism  "  should  be  brought  to  the 
bar;  but  knowing  Willy's  resourcefulness,  he  was 
most  puzzled  to  hear  from  his  detectives  that  no 
effort  had  been  made  to  recover  the  one  essential 
witness,  who  was  enjoying  himself  in  Europe  with 
a  paid  companion. 


150  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

Willy,  with  true  fatalism  and  trust  in  his  friend, 
asked  his  counsel  no  questions.  When  he  heard 
that  no  witnesses  had  been  subpoenaed  for  the  de 
fense  on  the  very  day  before  the  trial,  he  only 
answered  that  he  was  not  a  lawyer;  and  he  was 
busy  trying  to  pay  The  Sentinel's  bills,  was  that 
businesslike,  intense,  fighting  hummer  of  a 
man. 

As  minutely  as  if  he  were  intending  to  write  a 
two-column  biography  called  "  The  True  Life  of 
John  Byng,"  the  Big  Fellow  was  studying  the 
Gold  Pig's  career.  Out  of  his  prodigious  memory 
he  could  recite  many  features  wholly  forgotten  or 
unknown,  with  names  and  dates,  as  he  paced  to 
and  fro  in  Dexter 's  library  outlining  his  cam 
paign,  while  Uncle  Theodore,  who  had  been  doing 
some  detective  work  on  his  own  account,  listened 
and  approved. 

"  But  nothing  about  any  past  matters  will  be 
allowed.  That's  against  all  law,  isn't  it?  "  Byng 
asked  his  lawyers  more  than  once  when  the  Big 
Fellow's  inquiries  came  to  his  ears.  "  They  must 
stick  to  the  charge  and  prove  it!  ' 

"  Of  course!  "  the  best  counsel  in  the  State 
repeatedly  told  him.  "  Anything  else  is  wholly  ir 
relevant  and  will  be  disallowed.  Probably  they 
are  getting  up  a  history  for  a  general  vindication 
of  their  attacks  on  you  after  losing  their  case;  ' 
in  which  the  best  counsel  in  the  State,  being 
notably  matter-of-fact,  had  no  thought  of  being 
satirical. 

Despite  these  assurances,   Byng  did  not  like 


PLOWING,  PLOWING,  PLOWING          151 

these  repeated  reminders  that  he  had  a  record. 
And  Harden  was  no  fool;  if  he  were,  Sweetser 
was  not.  What  had  they  up  their  sleeves'? 

The  evening  before  the  trial  Uncle  Theodore 
came  in  rather  later  than  usual  and  seemed  most 
pleased  with  himself. 

"  I've  a  notion  to  tell  you  something,"  he 
said  to  the  Big  Fellow.  "  But  I  won't!  No, 
I  won't!  And  how  do  you  think  you're  coming 
out  with  that  case  with  no  proof?  "  he  asked, 
teasingly. 

"  I'm  going  to  win,"  was  all  the  Big  Fellow 
would  say.  He  was  more  grim  than  cheerful. 

They  went  to  court  together,  and  by  premedita 
tion  on  Big's  part  they  were  barely  on  time.  The 
spectators'  benches  were  crowded  and  among  the 
best  counsel  in  the  State  was  Kamsdell,  whom 
we  met  in  Poverty  Eow.  Two  of  the  three  wit 
nesses  which  the  defense  had  subpoenaed  and 
without  warning,  lest  they  go  out  of  town,  were 
already  present  and  these  were  Colonel  Walker 
and  Brooks,  the  banker,  both  of  whom  had  been 
in  the  deal  with  Byng  where  the  bribery  was 
charged. 

"  You  aren't  going  to  *  split  '  on  me!  "  Byng, 
thrown  off  his  languor,  whispered  anxiously  to 
Brooks. 

"  No!  "  was  the  growl.  "  I  don't  know  what 
we're  here  for." 

"  They've  been  packing  the  courtroom  on  us," 
said  Byng. 

"  Have  they?  "  whinnied  Colonel  Walker.  Then 


152  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

he  turned  to  Willy:  "  That  lot  of  boys  there's 
your  newsboy  battalion,  ain't  it?  "  he  asked. 

11  Yes.  I  didn't  know  they  were  coming.  And 
that  bunch  around  the  man  with  the  touseled  hair 
are  Sentinel  reporters  and  editors.  It's  pretty 
good  of  'em  to  be  out  so  early  when  they  have  to 
go  to  bed  so  late.  And — yes,  there 's  Jimmy  Smith, 
the  foreman  of  the  pressroom,  and  the  whole 
bunch  of  pressroom  folks  and  printers.  The 
unions  Ve  turned  out  for  me.  I  tell  you,  Colonel," 
and  Willy's  expressive  eyes  grew  moist,  "  a 
thing  like  that  makes  a  man  glad  he  plays  the 
game. ' ' 

Put  other  men  in  the  same  position  and  let 
them  say  the  same  thing,  and  Colonel  Walker 
asked  himself  if  he  would  have  considered  their 
surprise  genuine.  He  did  believe  Willy.  There 
was  no  question  that  Willy  was  as  honest  a 
little  lunatic,  he  thought,  as  ever  set  off  fire 
works  or  fired  a  gun  without  knowing  that  it  was 
loaded. 

"  Any  of  Byng's  reporters  and  pressmen 
here!  "  the  Colonel  asked. 

"  I  don't  think  so." 

"  You  bet  there  aren't!"  he  thought,  "not 
from  affection!  ' 

The  rest  of  the  crowd,  from  many  walks  of  life, 
knew  Jim  Harden  as  an  amiable,  big,  good- 
natured,  sensible  man  whom  they  liked.  He  was 
going  to  try  a  great  case  and  they  had  come  to 
hear  him. 

"  Suppose     any     that     aren't     your     friends 


PLOWING,  PLOWING,  PLOWING          158 

are  that  damned  politician's?  "  the  Colonel 
pursued. 

"  Yes,  I  judge  so.  Pete  Maloney's  on  hand,  big 
as  life." 

Perhaps  the  Big  Fellow,  who  had  told  Willy  not 
to  wait  on  him,  made  use  of  a  sense  of  the  dramatic 
on  this  occasion.  Just  as  the  Judge  was  taking 
the  bench  he  entered  the  courtroom,  erect  as  he 
always  was  and  cheerful,  but  with  a  certain  man 
ner  of  serene  confidence,  as  if  he  had  only  to  pick 
the  prize  off  the  table  and  take  it  home.  Under 
his  arm  was  a  bundle  of  papers,  which  he  held  in 
one  hand  while  he  tapped  them  with  the  other 
as  he  told  Colonel  Walker  and  Brooks,  with  whom 
he  had  not  spoken  a  word  about  the  case  although 
he  had  subpoenaed  them,  that  he  would  detain 
them  only  a  few  minutes. 

"  Come,  now,  what  is  it  all  about?  "  whispered 
Colonel  Walker,  ingratiatingly. 

"  A  suit  for  libel,"  Big  answered,  benignly, 
leaving  the  Colonel  no  wiser. 

Byng's  counsel  was  none  the  less  puzzled  when 
Eamsdell  remarked,  half  to  himself : 

"  Look  at  Big's  eyes!  There's  something  be 
hind  this!  " 

"  Hello,  Eamsdell!  "  said  the  attorney  for  the 
defense  as  he  took  his  seat.  '  '  You  seem  to  be  on 
all  the  big  things  these  days. ' ' 

i  i  And  it 's  so  rare  for  you  to  be  at  a  trial  except 
to  report  it  that  we  are  all  interested,"  Eamsdell 
retorted. 

Just  before  the  case  was  called  Boss  Birch 


154,  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

came  in.  He  gave  the  Big  Fellow  a  sharp 
glance  and  shot  one  that  was  fairly  savage 
to  Uncle  Theodore,  who  smiled  as  he  nodded 
pleasantly. 

Byng's  counsel  presented  that  copy  of  The  Sen 
tinel  in  evidence  of  the  libel  and  they  called  Byng 
to  the  stand  to  state  the  damage  his  name  and 
business  had  suffered.  Then  the  Big  Fellow  rose 
to  cross-examine  the  witness.  Everybody  was 
watching  him  except  Uncle  Theodore,  who  was 
watching  the  Judge.  Objection  after  objection, 
with  the  best  counsel  in  the  State  continually 
on  their  feet,  was  sustained;  while  Big  kept  on 
showing  that  Byng  had  not  much  character  to 
damage  and  three  or  four  times  he  caught  the 
Judge,  an  amiable,  watery-blue-eyed  man,  in  a 
way  that  made  the  Judge  blush. 

That  attorney  for  the  defense  was  a  very  pillar 
of  Olympian  assurance.  He  would  glance  know 
ingly  toward  Colonel  Walker  and  Brooks  and 
Birch  in  a  manner  that  said:  "  We're  going  to 
explode  something  pretty  soon  under  this  Byng, 
aren't  we?  '  Must  it  be  confessed  that  he  was 
bluffing  to  save  a  friend — and  in  the  name  of  the 
moral  law?  He  had  no  evidence,  but  he  had  hopes 
with  the  jury.  He  was  building  his  case,  in  want 
of  specifications,  on  the  truth  that  existed  in 
everybody's  mind.  No  doubt  he  was  ashamed  of 
himself  afterward.  All  the  time  he  kept  looking 
at  that  stage  bundle  of  papers.  Coming  to  a 
charge  of  perjury  he  said  softly  so  that  only  Byng 
and  the  jury  could  hear;  "  This  one  was  dis- 


PLOWING,  PLOWING,  PLOWING          155 

proved,"  as  if  he  had  a  whole  sheaf  of  charges 
that  were  not. 

Byng  was  most  professionally  good-natured 
and  indifferent  in  his  answers.  "  He  lies  as  in 
nocently  as  a  babe  takes  milk, ' '  as  Colonel  Walker 
once  said.  His  florid  face,  his  neat  moustache  arid 
elegant  dress,  with  a  false  white  vest  inside  his 
waistcoat,  a  family  crest  ring  and  large  emerald 
scarf  pin  bore  out  his  manner.  But  the  Big  Fel 
low's  remark,  "  This  one  was  disproved,"  with 
the  telling  accent  haunted  him. 

Leading  up,  question  by  question,  the  Big  Fel 
low  no  longer  looked  at  Judge  or  jury.  He  had  a 
stature  besides  inches  which  impressed  all.  It 
was  that  intangible  atmospheric  effect  that  moral 
stature  alone  will  produce.  Byng  still  simulated 
languor,  while  his  nails  were  pressed  against  the 
chair  arm  and  he  showed  his  teeth  more  and  more 
with  his  answers. 

With  occasional  short  steps — yet  regularly 
timed,  it  seemed  to  Byng — the  Big  Fellow  ap 
proached  the  witness.  Still  that  Jovelike  smile 
and  the  grey  eyes  not  letting  Byng's  look  away 
from  them!  Byng  felt  that  this  man  was  only 
playing  with  him  yet.  He  had  some  piece  of  truth 
unrevealed  behind  his  steady  gaze,  and  presently 
Big,  come  to  the  question  of  the  bribe,  summed  up 
everything  in  his : 

"  Did  you  or  did  you  not!  ' 

Byng  hesitated  when  he  should  have  been  most 
prompt.  For  the  rest  of  his  life  he  was  to  wonder 
why  he  did. 


156  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  Did  you  or  did  you  not!  " 

What  was  in  that  pile  of  papers  ?  What  if,  to 
use  an  inelegant  expression  out  of  keeping  with 
one  who  dressed  so  elegantly,  Walker  or  Brooks 
should  "  split  "  on  him?  Being  the  plaintiff,  his 
lawyers  could  not  help  him  with  the  excuse  that 
the  witness  need  not  incriminate  himself.  It  was 
for  Byng  to  speak  and  his  delay  made  a  silence, 
taut  and  quivering,  which  was  broken  by  a  crack 
ling,  whinnying  voice  of  nasal  satire  from  Colonel 
Walker: 

"  Coming  harder 'n  usual,  ain't  it,  Byng?  " 

Eamsdell,  the  quickest  of  the  plaintiff's  at 
torneys,  sprang  to  his  feet  and  seized  his  stra 
tegic  opportunity  by  demanding  a  new  trial;  but 
Byng,  stepping  down  from  the  witness  stand, 
stopped  him: 

4 '  We  have  had  enough !  "  he  said,  with  his  lan 
guid  ease  returning.  "  I  have  no  desire  to  pro 
ceed  any  further  against  a  fellow  newspaper 
owner;  "  and  he  felt  as  relieved  as  if  he  had 
escaped  from  prison,  where  he  well  knew  he 
belonged — but  not  more  relieved  than  Boss  Birch. 

So  the  case  was  dismissed  and  the  victory  was 
with  the  humanities  and  the  thousand  books  over 
the  books  of  precedent.  When  the  Judge  left  the 
bench,  Willy,  with  a  spring,  threw  his  arms 
around  Big's  neck. 

11  You  old  Olympus!  I  owe  all  to  you!  "  he 
cried. 

"  I've  been  doing  my  best  for  the  best  citizen 
of  this  town,"  answered  Big,  and  he  lifted  Willy 


PLOWING,  PLOWING,  PLOWING          157 

onto  a  table  and  shook  him.  "  Yes,  the  best 
citizen  of  this  town!  "  he  repeated;  and  whis 
pered:  "  I  did  it  all  on  the  guilt  in  their  minds, 
and  I  found  a  wicked  pleasure  in  it !  " 

Byng  and  his  counsel  and  the  Boss  and  Brooks 
had  already  gone;  but  Uncle  Theodore  and  Pete 
Maloney  and,  yes,  Colonel  Walker,  also,  had 
remained. 

"  Thank  you,  Colonel!  I  knew  you  were  at 
heart  a  thoroughbred !  ' '  Willy  told  him. 

66  I've  always  liked  you,  you  little  lunatic!  "  ad 
mitted  the  Colonel,  "  and  I've  told  you  before  that 
I  'm  the  most  public-spirited  man  in  my  town,  with 
a  lot  of  jackals  like  Byng  on  my  back.  I  guess 
you'll  put  him  where  he  belongs  after  this." 
There  was  something  else  he  said  to  himself  on 
his  way  home,  which  might  be  quoted  here: 
"  Damn  politician!  Wasn't  I  right  when  I 
wanted  a  popular  lawyer?  Look  at  the  way  he 
did  it!" 

"  Ye  divil,  ye!  "  said  Pete  Maloney  to  the  Big; 
Fellow. 

"  You  did  pretty  well,  but  I  don't  want  you  to 
play  this  kind  of  game  often,"  said  Theodore 
Dexter. 

"  What  was  that  thing  you  were  going  to  tell 
me!  "  Big  asked. 

4 *  I'll  not  now.  Boss  Birch  is  the  only  one  that 
will  ever  know,"  was  the  answer. 

With  Booth  of  the  touseled  hair  bareheaded 
and  leading,  the  reporters  and  pressmen  un 
hitched  the  horses  from  a  cab  and  drew  Willy  in 


158  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

triumph  through  the  streets,  with  the  newsboy 
battalion  acting  as  escort. 

"  Big  swatted  the  Philistines  a  hard  one  , to 
day,  "  Willy  telegraphed  home;  and  prided  him 
self  on  a  Biblical  reference  that  his  father  would 
understand.  "  Eead  the  full  report  in  to-mor 
row's  Sentinel/'  he  added,  instinctively. 


XVI 

EXIT    THE    TWO   BEAIDS 

A  S  distances  go  by  train,  the  city  was  not  far 
/\  from  Bolton  and  the  Big  Fellow  had  made 
the  journey  many  times  before  John  Byng 
felt  the  weight  of  the  thousand  books.  These 
home-comings  were  the  milestones  along  the  fur 
row's  way,  when  he  had  sympathy  from  those 
whose  sympathy  was  most  dear.  The  first  one 
came  on  a  court  holiday  in  mid-October,  soon  after 
he  had  begun  his  studies  with  Theodore  Dexter, 
when  the  reddening  leaves  had  their  warning  of  a 
season's  end  from  breaths  of  wind  that  sent  them 
flying  and  the  tyrant  sun  of  summer  was  a  genial 
servitor,  welcome  on  field,  road,  and  porch. 

Miss  Two  Braids  made  herself  a  reception  com 
mittee  of  one,  with  Pam  as  her  chief  assistant, 
which  was  more  courteous  to  him  than  to  state  the 
bare  truth  that  he  was  the  only  assistant.  Her 
conceits  met  with  but  mild  approval  from  Aunt 
Julia,  who  had  passing  minutes  of  skepticism 
about  that  French  and  Irish  blood,  for  which,  of 
course,  she  knew  that  Ellen  was  not  to  blame. 

Mrs.  Hobber  frequently  expressed  the  opin 
ion  to  all  her  friends,  "  between  you  and  me, 
not  that  I'd  say  it  generally,  bein'  in  the  same 

159 


160  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

church.  I'm  afraid  they're  goin'  to  have  a 
dreffle  harum-scarum  girl  over  at  the  Harden 
house."  This  apostle  of  worry  was  unable  to  be 
present  on  the  great  occasion  of  Big's  return,  as 
she  had  to  can  pears — "  and  somebody's  got  to 
work  if  we  ain't  goin'  to  the  poorhouse."  But 
Hiram  would  not  have  missed  the  treat  for  the 
price  of  his  winter  wood-pile,  as  he  said.  He  was 
the  one  highly  honored  guest  chosen  by  our  mis 
tress  of  ceremonies. 

"  I  ain't  a-losin'  any  sleep,"  said  Mr.  Hobber. 
1  i  All  I  Ve  got  to  do  now  is  to  draw  my  entrest  on 
my  investment." 

Ellen  had  the  flag  out  over  the  porch.  Pam  had 
raked  the  lawn  clean  of  every  leaf  and  put  fresh 
gravel  on  the  path.  When  they  heard  the  train 
Liz,  the  new  cow,  whose  style  of  beauty  appealed 
to  Pam  "  kase  spotted  cows  looked  so  purty 
standin'  in  de  patches  of  sunlight  under  de  trees," 
was  led  forth  to  her  appointed  place  in  front  of 
the  porch.  Miss  Two  Braids  had  not  much  to 
work  with,  but  she  made  the  most  of  what  she  had. 
Undisturbed  by  the  ribbons  on  her  horns  and  a 
string  of  maple  leaves  around  her  neck,  Liz 
chewed  her  cud  on  the  approach  of  the  capitalist 
who  had  pulled  off  a  big  thing  on  the  Koman  col 
onies,  while  Miss  Two  Braids  was  most  solemn  as 
she  began  a  speech  of  her  own  composition : 

"  Great  hero,"  she  read  from  manuscript,  "  it 
is  fitting  that  when  you  return  from  your  trials  an 
address  of  welcome  be  made.  Ahem!  '  (Which 
we  fear  was  in  the  manner  of  the  pastor  of  their 


EXIT  THE  TWO  BRAIDS  161 

church.)  "  This  quiet  home  saw  you  depart  for 
battle  and  it  has  watched  your  career  with  devour 
ing  interest."  (She  was  uncertain  about  "  de 
vouring/'  but  allowed  it  to  go  as  it  sounded  very 
oratorical.)  "  You  went  without  flags  flying,  in 
the  stern  determination  to  win,  and  in  honor  of 
your  victory  we  present  you  with  the  freedom  of 
our  porch. " 

"  I  read  about  the  freedom  of  the  city  in  a 
book  and  it  seemed  just  to  fit  the  occasion,"  she 
said,  in  an  aside,  as  she  gave  Big  the  key  to  the 
front  door.  At  this  stage  there  was  a  commotion. 
Mr.  Hobber,  who  had  been  "  trying  to  do  all  my 
laffin'  on  the  inside,"  had  slipped  the  leg  of  his 
chair  off  the  porch  floor,  but  he  recovered  himself 
promptly. 

"  Great  hero,"  Miss  Two  Braids  proceeded 
from  that  set  speech  (the  kind  given  out  the  day 
beforehand  to  the  reporters),  "  we  of  the  quiet 
home  know,  as  no  one  else  can,  that  you  are  no 
dreamer,  but  a  man  of  this  earth  and  practical. 
When  you  set  out  the  world  to  conquer  we  had  no 
cow  and  no  lawn  mower  and  now  we  have  both. 
In  honor  of  which  we  decorate  you,"  and  she 
slipped  a  wreath  of  asters  over  Big's  head.  "  Be 
hold  the  reward  of  your  efforts!  Behold  Eliza 
beth  herself,  showing  her  gratitude  for  the  home 
you  gave  her!  Behold  this  faithful  old  friend, 
Epaminanidad,  spelled  with  two  d's  and  not  as  in 
Thebes  of  ancient  days,  who  has  been  true  to  his 
promise!  " 

This  was  Pam's  cue,  according  to  the  stage  mis- 


162  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

tress's  instructions.  Out  of  his  pocket  came  a 
little  tin  box  with  the  one  dollar  and  sixty-seven 
cents  which  he  had  already  saved  from  selling 
milk  to  the  neighbors. 

"  Didn'  I  tell  yo'  I  had  a  business  haid!  Yose 
gotter  keep  it,  yo'  has,"  said  he.  "  Dat  was  de 
bargain. ' ' 

So  Big  made  an  end  of  argument  by  taking  the 
box. 

' i  Speech  from  the  hero ! ' y  cried  Miss  Two 
Braids. 

"  Speech!  Speech!  Speech!  "  all  present 
were  calling  together,  as  they  had  been  told  to  do. 
And,  yes,  it  was  all  most  foolish — but  what  fun 
for  Miss  Two  Braids ! 

Big  struck  a  highly  dramatic  attitude. 

"  The  honorable  chairwoman  of  the  reception 
committee, ' '  he  began. 

"  That's  me!  "  put  in  Miss  Two  Braids. 

"  That's  I!  "  corrected  Aunt  Julia. 

I  i — and  Madame  Mother  and  Aunt  Julia  and  Mr. 
Hobber  and  Pam,"  Big  proceeded,  "  well  may 
other  heroes  envy  the  luckiest  of  men !    None  ever 
had  such  a  home  as  this  and  none  ever  had  so 
charming  a  spokeswoman.    My  efforts  have  been 
exaggerated  by  your  affection  which  made  them 
possible.    All  I  had  to  do— 

"  Was  to  knock  somebody  down!  "  Miss  Two 
Braids  interjected. 

"  He  did  not  interrupt  your  speech,"  Aunt 
Julia  warned  her,  but  in  vain. 

II  Oh,  Big,  I  can't  wait!    These  ceremonies  are 


EXIT  THE  TWO  BRAIDS  163 

too  stifling!  "  Miss  Two  Braids  cried,  and  sprang 
into  his  arms. 

"  I  allus  said  he'd  do  it  jes'  as  easy,"  said  Pam. 

1  i  I  knew  character  when  I  met  it, ' '  said  Hiram 
Hobber. 

And  everyone  was  speaking  at  once,  while  he 
had  eyes  only  for  Madame  Mother.  It  was  their 
day  and  his.  No  triumph  ever  quite  equaled  this 
over  poverty — this  triumph  of  bread-winning. 
With  his  growing  income  he  could  now  make  them 
all  more  comfortable. 

Among  his  home-comings,  holidays  of  sweet 
content  and  peace,  Madame  Mother  discovering 
each  time  some  new  feature  of  her  son's  develop 
ment,  were  two  others,  equally  memorable  and 
more  important,  as  they  concerned  the  education 
and  the  future  of  Ellen  Moore.  So  this  chapter 
divides  itself  into  three  scenes. 

On  the  Big  Fellow's  return  in  June  of  the 
second  summer,  Pam  was  at  the  gate  and  the  two 
old  ladies  framed  in  the  vines  of  the  porch  as 
usual.  He  had  barely  asked  the  question,  Where 
was  Miss  Two  Braids?  when  she  appeared  in  the 
doorway  and  shyly  held  out  her  hand. 

"  Miss  Ellen,  you  should  call  her,  now,"  cor 
rected  Aunt  Julia.  "  Don't  you  see  she's  doing 
her  hair  up?  " 

"  Yes,  I  should  say  so!  "  he  exclaimed. 

Ellen  blushed  and  looked  at  the  floor. 

"  Was  it  warm  on  the  train,  Pig?  "  she  asked, 
primly, 


164  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  I  don 't  like  this  at  all !  "  he  said.  ' '  It  doesn  't 
look  like  you." 

"  But  it  is  I,"  with  a  return  to  her  two-braid 
manner.  "  I  leave  it  to  all  present.  Besides, 
when  you  start  geometry  it's  time  to — to  do  some 
thing  quite  radical,  and  I've  put  your  algebra 
back  in  its  place.  It's  studied  'most  to  pieces  and 
I've  forgotten  most  of  what  is  in  it  already." 

"  But  you  have  absorbed  a  habit  of  logical 
thought,"  he  suggested. 

"  Have  I?  "  she  asked,  archly.  "  Have  I,  do 
you  think,  Aunt  Julia!  Have  I,  Pam?  " 

"  I  ain'  got  no  eddercation.  How  kin  I  tell, 
'cept  by  'pearances,  an'  I  'specs  dey  don'  count 
nohow  in  g'ometry!  "  and  grinning,  Pam  shuffled 
away.  He  had  the  joke  on  Miss  Ellen  now,  "yis, 
indeedy!  ' 

A  sense  the  Big  Fellow  had  then,  which  the 
hours  strengthened,  that  something  had  gone  out 
of  their  old  comradeship  forever,  with  no  thought 
on  his  part  or  hers  if  anything  would  take  its 
place.  Otherwise  she  was  the  same.  After  the 
noonday  meal  they  sat  under  the  shade  of  the 
maple — which  his  father  had  planted  in  honor  of 
the  son's  birth — and  he  told  her  all  about  his  work, 
the  new  people  he  knew,  and  much  that  he  had 
never  told  anybody  else. 

"  You're  always  going  to  tell  me  your  secrets, 
aren't  you?  "  she  asked. 

' '  Why,  yes ;  that  was  the  bargain,  forever. ' ' 

"  I  wanted  it  to  be,"  she  answered. 

4  '  It  would  hurt  me  intensely  if  you  didn  't.    But 


EXIT  THE  TWO  BRAIDS  165 

that — certainly,  that  doesn't  look  right,"  with  a 
glance  at  her  hair,  "  not  when  we  hold  council^ 
and  I'm  going  to  change  it  back." 

"  No!    You  mustn't!  " 

He  laughed  at  her  denials  and  took  the  pyramid 
down.  While  he  braided  the  dark  strands  he 
made  a  discovery  from  watching  the  little,  close- 
set  ears,  the  delicate  nostril,  the  mobile  mouth, 
the  oval  chin,  and  the  long  eyelashes.  She  was  to 
be  not  only  tall,  which  he  knew  before,  but  she  was 
to  be  very  good-looking.  He  found  himself  re 
gretting  this,  without  knowing  why. 

"  You're  always  to  be  Miss  Two  Braids  when 
I  am  here,"  he  said;  and  until  she  left  home  for 
further  trials  in  mathematics,  she  used  to  wear 
her  hair  in  that  way  to  please  him  on  his  holidays. 

When  she  had  all  that  the  local  school  afforded 
and  she  was  sixteen,  he  asked  her  what  next?  Was 
she  to  study  no  more? 

"Yes,  what  next,  Big?  That  is  it.  I've 
thought  of  that  a  lot  of  late,"  she  responded,  with 
a  touch  of  sadness. 

He  feared  that  his  beginning  had  been  unhappy, 
for  he  had  brought  to  her  mind  a  sense  of  her  de 
pendence.  It  had  never  occurred  to  him  before 
that  she  might  have  such  a  feeling.  The  thought 
was  depressing. 

"  There's  a  school  on  the  Hudson  Eiver  that's 
just  the  thing  for  you,"  he  proceeded. 

She  raised  her  eyelashes,  with  which  she  could 
talk  all  unconsciously  in  so  many  languages,  and 


166  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

in  her  eyes  he  saw  what  she  was  seeing  in  imag 
ination,  through  the  books  she  had  read,  hundreds 
of  miles  away  where  she  had  never  been. 

"  Wouldn't  you  like  to  go?  "  he  asked. 

She  did  not  answer  his  question,  but  put  one. 

"  How  could  I  ever  pay  you  back!  " 

"  How?  Why,  that  is  not  a  thing  to  be  dis 
cussed." 

"  Yes,  it  is,"  she  said,  firmly.  "Yes,  it  is, 
Big." 

"  Between  comrades!  Don't  comrades  share 
and  share  alike!  Pay  me  back!  Why,  Two 
Braids,  I  am  paid !  I  was  paid  in  all  the  good-by 
cheer  you  gave  me  when  I  went  to  the  city,  paid  by 
all  the  letters  you  wrote,  paid  by  the  help  you  gave 
the  folks  at  home,  paid  by  the  very  fact  of  your  liv 
ing.  The  money  is  nothing  as  long  as  one  has  it. 
I'll  be  making  quite  enough — more  than  enough. 
Why  shouldn't  a  big  brother  out  in  the  world  as 
sist  a  sister  who  shares  his  secrets?  " 

"  But  you're  not  my  real  brother,"  she  said, 
seriously,  looking  at  the  ground.  "  You're  the 
nearest  I  have,  though, ' '  she  added,  with  her  rare 
smile  as  she  looked  at  him  fondly. 

"  Would  you  like  to  go!  "  he  persisted,  gently, 
still  at  a  loss  to  understand  her  mood. 

"  I  will  not  say,"  she  admitted.  "  But  I  think 
I'll  not  go,"  she  declared,  inscrutably.  Per 
haps  she  dared  not  confess  to  herself  the  long 
ings  for  a  wider  life  than  the  old  house  afforded 
and  the  restlessness  which,  unbidden,  found  place 
in  her  mind. 


EXIT  THE  TWO  BRAIDS  167 

"  Well,  we'll  think  it  over.  We'll  talk  it  over," 
lie  concluded,  to  give  her  time  in  which  to  be  con 
vinced. 

Aunt  Julia,  when  she  first  heard  the  proposal, 
refused  to  commit  herself  until  she  had  given  it 
more  thought.  Madame  Mother  approved  at 
once.  The  next  night  so  important  a  matter  was 
made  the  subject  of  a  straight-backed-chair  oc 
casion  by  the  two  old  ladies,  slightly  to  the 
sympathetic  amusement  of  Ellen  and  Big,  who 
thought  it  might  be  discussed  in  open  session  at 
the  supper  table. 

Aunt  Julia  had  not  allowed  the  prospective  loss 
of  the  "  light  of  the  house  "  to  influence  her  at 
all.  Was  it  better  for  Ellen?  Her  fears  about  the 
French  and  Irish  blood,  after  the  nature  of  the 
school  had  been  fully  described,  were  outweighed 
by  her  inborn  belief  in  the  value  of  education.  All 
the  members  of  the  council  sitting  around  the 
parlor  lamp  were  in  favor  of  the  proposition  ex 
cept  the  one  most  directly  concerned. 

"  But  I  could  learn  to  teach  or  something, 
couldn't  If  "  Ellen  said,  finally.  "I'll  go,  Big,  if 
I  may  pay  you  back  all  you  give  me  some  day. 
Will  you  let  me!  I'll  consent  if  you  will,  but  not 
otherwise,"  with  the  mobile  mouth  firmly  set  and 
the  chin  thrust  out. 

He  agreed  to  her  condition  to  gain  his  object, 
and  she  matriculated  the  following  autumn  at  the 
school  on  the  Hudson  Eiver. 


BOOK  II 
XVII 


IN  his  old  age  Theodore  Dexter  had  fallen  intcv 
strange  habits.  You  saw  him  browsing  in 
bookstalls,  not  for  history  of  the  law,  but  for 
sentimental  novels  of  the  most  widely  circulated 
types. 

' '  I  want  to  be  sure  that  after  their  troubles  all 
will  be  bliss  on  the  last  page,"  he  told  the  dealers. 
"  Don't  you  give  me  any  with  sad  endings!  I 
prefer  a  lowly  lover  and  a  lady  of  birth,  though 
I'll  not  press  that  point.  Let  it  be  the  other 
way  around,  if  you  choose.  But  I  do  insist  that 
I  want  no  young  hearts  broken." 

In  seventy's  cupidity  for  youth's  happiness  he 
used  to  read  himself  to  sleep  every  night,  his 
sympathy  running  high  with  the  heroine,  while 
he  mentally  berated  the  heavy  father. 

"  My  disciple,"  he  said,  "  this  is  not  for  you. 
Don't  you  take  it  up  till  you're  seventy.  It's 
a  beautiful  rest  for  the  mind  then.  When  I  think 
of  the  number  of  couples  I  have  seen  married 
and  living  happily  ever  afterward  in  the  last 
year,  I  feel  a  cheerful  paternity  in  all  the  world's 

168 


A  SCHOOLGIRL'S  LETTERS  169 

young.  I  am  become  a  bubbling  well  of  optimism. 
And  confound  the  heavy  fathers  and  scheming 
mothers,  I  say!  " 

That  evening  Uncle  Theodore  continued  read 
ing  until  he  was  convinced  that  the  Lady  Gwen- 
dolin  would  get  the  penniless  artist  who  wor 
shiped  her  by  moonlight. 

"  Zounds,  villain!  We  have  thee  now!  r'  he 
said,  with  a  chuckle.  Turning  out  the  light  and 
snuggling  into  the  bedclothes,  he  called  to  the 
figure  bending  by  the  study  lamp:  "  Come,  my 
disciple,  don't  worry  about  it!  You  are  right. 
It  is  the  law!  " 

"Good-night,  Uncle  Theodore!"  said  the 
Judge,  a  little  absently. 

"  Night!  If  I'm  not  up  when  you  go  out,  de 
pend  on  me  to  walk  back  with  you  from  the  court 
house.  Have  a  good  laugh  and  pace  up  and 
down,  and  remember  you  serve  for  twelve  years 
yet,  Your  Honor.  And  you're  right!  You're 
right!" 

Theodore  Dexter 's  flippancy  being  something 
new  to  him,  he  made  the  most  of  the  affectation. 
From  this  you  must  not  think  that  he  had  suf 
fered  any  abatement  of  his  mental  powers.  His 
comments  on  the  decision  re  the  State  vs.  Walker 
spoke  the  contrary.  Now,  for  the  last  time,  Judge 
Harden  had  gone  over  the  two  score  of  type 
written  sheets  that  Kiddy  Witherbee,  his  secre 
tary,  soon  to  be  admitted  to  the  bar  himself,  had 
brought  that  afternoon. 

"  You  are  right!     You  are  right!  "  his  con- 


170  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

science  told  him.  Not  a  comma  would  he  change. 
Yes,  right!  But  the  result  would  be  wrong;  and 
it  would  be  wrong,  too,  if  he  made  a  contrary 
decision.  The  statutes  were  clear.  It  was  not  his 
place  to  change  them. 

An  Eastern  law  journal,  which  came  in  the 
day's  mail,  remarked  that  it  was  rare,  indeed, 
that  one  of  his  years  came  to  the  bench  and  a 
noteworthy  coincidence  that  a  great  test  case  on 
which  public  attention,  partisan  and  highly 
wrought  at  the  time,  was  centered,  should  fall  to 
him.  ' '  Judging  by  the  papers  and  addresses  that 
we  have  seen,"  continued  the  editorial,  "  few 
members  of  our  judiciary  are  better  equipped  by 
training  and  nature  for  this  responsibility  or 
freer  from  any  influences  which  could  lead  to 
an  insinuation  of  bias  by  the  thoughtless." 

Gladly  would  he  have  foregone  the  honor  and 
the  compliments.  They  were  ashes  and  exaspera 
tion.  In  this  decision  he  went  back  to  the  right 
of  a  man  to  labor  and  his  right  to  organize,  which 
was  ingrained  in  him  by  study  of  the  thousand 
books  and  by  his  own  experience  with  the  mixed 
gang.  Either  he  had  to  take  the  side  of  disorder 
or  the  side  which  aided  the  powerful.  There  was 
no  middle  road  of  reason  and  justice,  for  the  law 
was  wrong. 

With  his  gift  for  philosophy  he  might  have 
sought  relief  in  a  laugh  and  in  pacing  the  room, 
as  Uncle  Theodore  had  suggested,  if  his  decision 
had  been  the  only  thing  on  his  mind  that  night. 
Many  other  things,  both  prospective  and  retro- 


A  SCHOOLGIRL'S  LETTERS  171 

spective,  pressing  for  a  place  in  his  thoughts, 
made  him  wakeful.  Had  he  been  one  who  ever 
admitted  a  sense  of  the  occult  to  a  consciousness 
bound  by  friendship,  logic,  and  the  humanities, 
he  would  have  wondered  if  some  change  in  his 
life  or  his  career  were  not  at  hand. 

The  decision  he  placed  in  his  leather  portfolio, 
so  familiar  to  all  who  recognized  him  as  he  passed 
along  the  street  with  his  happy  "  Howdy  do's  " 
and  his  interest  in  how  everyone  was  prospering. 
He  sank  deep  into  his  chair,  looking  at  the  calen 
dar  which  he  did  not  see  and  musing.  At  length 
he  rose  to  go  to  a  cabinet  where  he  kept  his 
papers,  and  on  the  way  was  struck  by  his  own  re 
flection  in  a  mirror  at  the  other  end  of  the  room. 

An  unbiased  eye  would  have  seen  one  erect 
and  boyish  for  his  age,  although  men  who  talked 
with  him  on  any  serious  matter  gave  him  ten 
years  more  than  he  had,  which  they  reduced  by 
fifteen  if  they  saw  him  at  a  game  or  in  skylarking 
mood.  Then  he  seemed  even  younger  than  Willy 
Sweetser,  who  had  that  juvenile  type  of  face 
which  time  marks  with  fine  wrinkles  around  the 
eyes.  Only  for  a  second  did  Big  survey  him 
self,  before  he  turned  away  with  mixed  feelings 
of  sheepishness  and  doubt  and  unlocked  a  drawer, 
out  of  which  he  took  four  bundles  of  letters,  one 
for  each  year  that  Ellen  had  been  at  school. 

How  well  he  knew  them!  What  a  fresh  pleas 
ure  it  was  to  go  through  them  again!  The  first 
was  written  from  the  train;  the  next  briefly  an 
nounced  her  arrival  at  the  school,  and  the  next 


172  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

was  a  long  one  describing  that  new  world  of 
people  and  manners  which  "  your  goodness  has 
opened  to  me."  From  this  he  imbibed  the  very 
joy  of  living  and  he  sensed  the  grace  and  inno 
cent  abandon  of  freedom  from  the  restraint  at 
home  which  had  been  so  gentle  and  kind  that  she 
never  resented  it. 

He  ran  through  all  of  the  letters,  nodding  to 
the  contents  of  one  as  to  a  passing  friend,  but 
reading  every  word  of  another,  all  contributing 
a  part  to  that  chronicle  known  only  to  him.  But 
Aunt  Julia  knew  enough  to  cause  many  a  thought 
of  the  French  and  Irish  blood,  which  she  fully 
believed  had  certain  mercurial  qualities  not  to  be 
found  elsewhere.  A  milestone  without  directions 
to  the  Judge  was  the  last  signature  of  the  girlish 
Portia  before  she  became  Ellen  altogether. 

His  summer  holidays  had  been  spent  at  home. 
He  and  Ellen  had  played  tennis  and  tramped  the 
fields,  and  in  his  delight  of  her  growth  to  a 
broader  if  no  more  compelling  charm,  he  had 
compared  the  living  girl  with  the  girl  of  the 
schoolgirl  hand. 

1  i  Another  secret !  ' '  she  begins  one  letter.  * l  I 
tell  you  everything,  Big.  I  don't  think  it's  sinful 
to  keep  it  from  Aunt  Julia  when  she  just  wouldn  't 
understand."  This  part  was  honey  dripping  to 
him.  It  appealed  to  the  only  sense  of  egoism  he 
had:  He  liked  to  have  a  special  place  in  her 
existence. 

She  had  been  "  found  "  in  her  studies  more 
than  once — not  in  music  or  drawing  or  literature, 


A  SCHOOLGIRL'S  LETTERS  173 

— and  then  had  sat  up  all  night  with  a  towel 
around  her  head  and  taught  the  tortoises  seem 
ingly  that  the  rabbit  had  a  chance  in  the  race. 
He  liked  her  the  better  for  this ;  far  better  than 
if  she  had  been  prim  and  correct  and  Number 
One  in  her  class.  After  all,  she  was  Miss  Two 
Braids,  who  always  had  too  many  thoughts  of 
her  own  to  learn  textbooks  by  rote. 

"I'm  having  such  a  good  time  that  I  don't  stop 
to  think  that  I  owe  you  for  it  all, ' '  she  writes  fre 
quently,  or  to  that  effect.  '  i  How  am  I  ever  going 
to  pay  you!  "  She  could  teach,  anyway,  she  con 
cluded — "  at  least,  abc's,  but  not '  math  '!  " 

He  never  sent  her  a  check  without  being  hap 
pier  the  whole  day  for  this  piece  of  monthly  rou 
tine.  Why  shouldn't  he  pay  her  way  when  his 
salary  was  larger  than  he  could  possibly  use?  he 
asked  her;  though,  truth  to  tell,  he  did  manage 
in  his  generous  way  to  spend  it  all.  And  he  for 
bade  any  mention  of  the  subject  again. 

"  I  may  not  mention  it,  Big,  but  I  shall  think 
of  it,"  she  answered;  and  this  hurt  him. 

He  was  fondest  of  her  own  side  of  the  contro 
versy  when  she  was  suspended  and  threatened 
with  expulsion  for  a  prank.  "  I  wouldn't  tell  who 
did  it — never!  never!  never!  Not  if  they  threw 
me  in  the  Hudson  I  wouldn't !  "  This  he  had  sent 
to  the  head  of  the  institution  and  it  served  its 
purpose. 

"  She  is  one  of  our  nicest  girls  and  bright  and 
bubbling  over  with  spirits,  and  has  the  fault  of 
being  good-looking,"  wrote  the  head  of  the  insti- 


174  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

tution.  Evidently  she  took  the  Judge  for  some 
elderly  guardian,  a  misconception  that  displeased 
him.  But  "  the  fault  of  being  good-looking  " — 
the  fault!  Big  pondered  over  that. 

To  come  to  the  last  letter.  The  aroma  of  June 
flowers  and  the  joy  of  classes  over  and  wonder 
about  a  future  unsettled  were  here ;  and  some  fire 
flies  and  some  splintered  lightning.  By  this  time 
she  was  already  back  in  Bolton,  he  knew,  and  in 
two  days  he  was  going  home  for  a  holiday,  to  find 
her,  for  the  first  time,  no  longer  a  schoolgirl. 

"  Have  you  ridden  in  automobiles  yet,  Big? 
Not  fast !  Not  on  such  roads  as  they  have  on  the 
Hudson, "  she  wrote.  "  Ned  Walker  took  us  out 
yesterday  in  his  French  machine.  ...  I  told  you 
that  he  is  staying  with  the  Whittleseys  "  (friends 
of  hers  whom  she  had  mentioned),  "  didn't  I! 
...  I  think  we  went  fifty  miles  an  hour.  .  .  .  The 
Whittleseys  have  asked  me  to  visit  them  in  Maine 
this  summer.  .  .  .  Ned  Walker  is  thirty,  but  he 
doesn't  look  it."  ("  And  I  do,  I  fear,"  thought 
Big.)  "  Everyone  says  Ned  is  much  nicer  and 
livelier  than  when  he  was  younger.  ...  I  am 
quite  dizzy  with  all  the  praise  we  have  been  re 
ceiving  for  our  senior  play.  Think  of  being  actor 
and  author,  too!  I  was  so  scared  I  don't  know 
how  I  did  anything.  ...  I  start  for  home,  an 
alumna,  in  the  morning.  What  then?  Do  you 
remember  when  you  returned,  Mister  Ninety  in 
Calculus,  so  many  years  ago?  "  ("  Not  so 
many!  "  mused  Big.)  "  And  how  Colonel 
Walker  surprised  us!  Why,  he  was  a  regular 


A  SCHOOLGIRL'S  LETTERS  175 

hobgoblin  to  me!  And  how  stiff  we  sat  in  our 
chairs!  ' 

She  concealed  nothing  from  her  friend — yes, 
her  friend,  exactly  her  friend,  he  feared.  When 
he  folded  the  letters  and  put  them  together,  cer 
tain  sentences  were  quite  as  clear  in  their  chirog- 
raphy  as  if  they  were  before  his  eyes.  He  knew 
just  on  what  part  of  the  page  each  one  began. 

1 '  Folly !  "  he  thought ;  but  not  as  if  folly  were  a 
thing  to  be  dismissed.  He  clung  to  it. 


XVIII 

THE   STRAIGHT   LINENS   WAY 

IT  was  a  joke  of  the  Judge's  that  his  personal 
political  machine  consisted  solely  of  the  Ma- 
loneys  and  Kiddy  Witherbee.  Mrs.  Maloney 
insisted  that  Pete  ought  to  give  up  his  clay  pipe 
except  at  home. 

"  Ain't  he  ashamed  of  ye,  him  the  gr-reat  man 
that  he  is,  an'  yersilf,  ye  ingrate,  a-shlippin'  out 
into  th'  corrydoors  to  puff  at  a  dudeen?  ' 

Pete  took  a  different  view. 

"  '  Shure,  it's  natcheral  ye  look,'  he  says  to  me. 
1  Didn't  we  both  wur-rk  on  the  mixed  gang 
t'gither  an'  didn't  the  two  of  us  lick  all  Italy?  ' 
says  1 1'  him.  '  That  we  did!  '  says  he  to  me.'' 

Some  solace,  however,  Mrs.  Maloney 's  new 
sense  of  dignity  found  in  Pete's  little  "  side 
board  ' '  whiskers,  silky  white  and  always  brushed 
forward,  giving  him  the  look  of  a  fine  old  blade  of 
Irish  aristocracy. 

"  You're  good  for  sore  eyes  always,  Pete," 
the  Judge  had  said,  as  Pete  opened  the  door  for 
him  to  enter  his  chambers  the  next  morning. 

He  thought  of  the  first  time  he  had  met  Pete 
and  of  the  right  of  a  man  to  earn  all  he  could 
and  the  right  of  union  they  had  established  on 

176 


THE  STRAIGHT  LINE'S  WAY  177 

the  mixed  gang.  Whatever  the  public  thought, 
Pete  believed  in  him ;  and  so  did  Theodore  Dexter. 
What  did  Ramsdell,  the  leader  of  the  counsel  for 
Walker,  believe  in  ?  In  his  client,  right  or  wrong ; 
in  the  aristocracy  of  intellect. 

It  would  have  been  so  easy  for  the  Big  Fellow 
to  have  made  his  name  popular  throughout  the 
country ;  so  easy  for  him  to  interpolate  an  appeal 
to  the  passion  of  the  hour  in  that  decision!  If 
he  had,  he  would  have  put  his  own  private  opinion 
above  the  law,  which  is  the  first  step  toward  mak 
ing  the  law  the  will  of  whomsoever  shall  be  in 
power  to  interpret  it.  He  was  to  be  praised  by 
those  with  whom  he  had  no  sympathy;  to  be  cen 
sured  by  those  with  whom  he  had  all  sympathy. 

The  two  score  of  typewritten  pages  were 
handed  to  the  clerk,  according  to  form,  and  the 
news  was  sent  ticking  over  the  wires  to  the  ends 
of  the  land.  On  the  front  page  of  an  evening 
radical  paper,  in  scare  headlines  of  angry  cen 
sure,  the  Judge  and  Uncle  Theodore  saw  the  first 
result  when  they  left  the  courthouse  that  after 
noon.  As  they  were  walking  homeward  they  met 
Colonel  Walker  and  Ned,  in  a  new  French 
machine. 

"  Howdy,  Mr.  Dexter!  Howdy,  Judge!  Ned 
here's  trying  to  get  me  to  give  up  the  buggy  for 
this  new-fangled  omnibus  from  Paris!  "  said  the 
Colonel,  gleefully.  "  Well,  Judge,"  he  added,  as 
he  shook  hands,  "  I  take  it  all  back.  Blood  will 
tell.  I  might  have  known  that  when  you  came 
to  the  crux  you'd  be  on  the  right  side.  Never 


178  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

mind  what  the  crowd  says.  You've  got  the  brains 
of  this  town  on  your  side — and  intelligence  rules. 
Want  you  to  come  up  to  that  place  of  ours  in  the 
country  some  day.  Only  ten  miles  from  your  old 
home." 

Praise  for  the  water  that  grinds  your  grist 
and  floods  the  other  fellow's  farm;  praise  for 
what  had  been  an  axiomatic  rendering  of  a 
statute;  praise,  human  and  partisan,  sounded 
peculiarly  blatant  to  the  Big  Fellow  at  this  time. 

"  It  was  not  for  you  or  them  or  any  class," 
he  answered.  "  And  I  will  say,  as  a  citizen  off 
the  bench,  that  the  law  is  wrong.  I  would  vote  as 
a  citizen  for  its  repeal." 

This  did  not  disturb  the  Colonel.  He  had  the 
bird  in  his  hand,  clever  old  hunter. 

"  Well,  have  it  your  way — any  way  to  please 
you.  Giddap !  Yes,  turn  her  on  or  whatever  you 
say,  Ned.  Good-day,  Judge.  I  never  could  under 
stand  him,  damn  politician!  '  he  resumed  to 
Ned. 

"  I  understand  him!  "  said  Ned.  "  It's  pride 
— and  pride  deserves  respect."  Ned  had  a  good 
deal  of  pride,  himself. 

Meanwhile,  Theodore  Dexter  looked  skyward 
and  dropped  into  parable. 

' '  Once  a  crooked  line  and  a  straight  line  started 
traveling, ' '  he  said  to  his  disciple.  ' i  The  crooked 
line  went  around  hills  and  never  missed  any  or 
chards.  The  straight  line  kept  on  plowing. 
Whenever  the  crooked  line  met  the  straight 
line  it  said:  '  You're  on  the  right  road.'  When 


THE  STRAIGHT  LINE'S  WAY  179 

the  straight  line  would  not  follow,  it  said: 
6  You're  queer. '  " 

"  And  when  they  got  to  the  journey's  end — 
what  then!  "  asked  Big. 

"  Probably  they  both  had  a  good  time,  but  the 
straight  line  had  turned  a  lot  of  sod  and  shown 
the  shortest  way  to  those  who  were  to  follow." 

Yet  the  Big  Fellow  was  in  poor  mood  for  phi 
losophy.  He  failed  to  respond  to  Uncle  Theo 
dore's  quips.  If  he  were  not  a  judge,  he  was 
thinking,  he  would  lead  a  movement  to  change 
this  law. 

They  were  hardly  back  to  their  rooms  before 
Willy  Sweetser  came  in,  after  ascending  the  stairs 
two  steps  at  a  time,  and  began,  breathlessly : 

"  Of  course,  I  couldn't  ask  you  what  the  deci 
sion  was  to  be  before  you  gave  it  out,  but  I  did 
take  it  for  granted  that  the  thousand  books  would 
get  it  over  the  fifty.  I  tell  you,  Big,  you've  broken 
all  the  crockery  and  the  apple  cart  is  floating 
down  stream  with  the  harness  over  the  donkey's 
ears  and  the  old  lady  sitting  in  a  squash  of  fresh- 
laid  eggs ! ' ' 

"  Now,  Willy,"  said  the  Big  Fellow,  contem 
platively,  as  if  taking  a  new  measure  of  an  old 
friend,  "  you  surprise  me!  " 

"  Surprise  you!    Well— of  all  the " 

"  Yes.  I  had  to  follow  the  law  and  I  thought 
this  was  just  the  time  you  would  be  busy  in  your 
department.  It  is  with  the  people  to  change  the 
law,  and  I  pray  that  they  will  at  once." 

No  idea  ever  came  a-glimmering  to  Willy,    If 


180  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

it  entered  at  all,  it  was  on  a  sun  ray  with  the 
sash  thrown  wide  open. 

' i  Kick  me !  Just  kick  me !  And  I  call  myself  a 
newspaper  man !  We  '11  change  that  law !  ' '  Willy 
danced  on  his  tiptoes.  "  I've  got  it !  "he  shouted. 
"  I'll  have  every  member  of  the  State  legislature 
—yes,  I'll  have  the  Governor  on  record  before 
the  morning!  And — and  wouldn't  it  be  nuts  to 
have  old  Boss  Birch,  too!  " 

"I'll  get  Birch,"  put  in  Uncle  Theodore. 

"  You?  " 

"  Yes.  Just  leave  it  to  me.  The  Boss  and 
I  have  known  each  other  for  forty  years. 
There's  been  more  between  us  than  anyone  could 
guess." 

"  Well,  Uncle  Theodore,  if  you  get  a  signed 
statement  from  him,"  Willy  cried,  "  I'll— I'll  in 
vite  you  to  dinner  at  Jerry's  " — knowing  that 
Uncle  Theodore  had  everything  in  the  world  his 
simple  tastes  wanted — "  and  I'm  off!  Oh,  joy! 
joy!" 

But  he  stuck  his  head  through  the  doorway 
after  he  had  shot  out,  his  eyes  popping  with  an 
other  idea : 

"  Look  here!  We'll  make  a  new  law!  Can't 
we  frame  one  that's  right!  I'll  slam  it  on  the 
front  page — heavy  type!  Governor's  statement 
on  one  side,  the  Boss's  on  the  other!  ' 

"  Yes,"  answered  Uncle  Theodore,  "  my  dis 
ciple  will  make  one  in  a  quarter  of  the  verbiage 
of  the  present  law,  so  tight  a  thousand  Ramsdells 
couldn't  drive  a  needle  through  it!  " 


THE  STRAIGHT  LINE'S  WAY  181 

"  Bully!  bully!  Thousand  Ramsdells  and  one 
needle!  I'll  put  that  in  an  editorial!  The  apple 
cart's  all  right!  Hear  the  donkey's  bells  a- jin 
gling  in  the  main  street  and  the  old  lady  with  a 
ribbon  on  her  whip  is  driving  at  a  trot,  the  first 
to  reach  market !  ' ' 

From  the  sounds  on  the  stairs  Willy  must  have 
touched  the  second  flight  about  three  times  before 
he  reached  the  first  landing.  He  could  barely 
have  arrived  in  his  office  when  the  Judge's  tele 
phone  bell  rang. 

"  H'lo,  Big!  "  came  that  strident,  nervous 
voice.  "  Say,  could  you  write  that  law  right 
quick!  That's  something  concrete  to  work  with. 
When  any  of  these  stick-in-the- throat,  phlegmy 
legislators  begin  to  talk  investigation  and  dis 
cussion  we'll  chuck  it  right  at  'em  and  say, 
i  Here's  your  law!  '  " 

"All  right!  In  half  an  hour!"  the  Judge 
answered. 

"  Bully,  old  Big!  I'll  send  a  boy  over.  He 
won't  knock  or  anything  to  disturb  you,  but,  Mr. 
Jovial  Olympus,  when  you're  ready  he'll  be  Mr. 
Marathon  Mercury  waiting  right  outside  the  door 
to  come  on  the  run." 

Meanwhile,  Theodore  Dexter  had  been  taking 
an  envelope  out  of  his  safe.  He  was  whistling  to 
himself  as  jubilantly  as  if  never  a  young  heart  in 
all  the  world  had  been  broken. 

"I'm  going  to  enjoy  this  little  talk  of  mine 
with  the  Boss  more  than  '  Araminta's  Hope  '— 
and  that  was  a  specially  good  one,"  he  said. 


182  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

' i  When  I  put  this  letter  in  the  safe  five  years  ago 
I  thought  I'd  feel  different  when  I  took  it  out 
than  I  do.  Time  softens  you.  Put  the  perspective 
of  time  in  your  mind  and  you  are  a  philosopher. " 

"  And  philosophy?  Does  it  accomplish  so  much 
in  the  world!  "  asked  the  Judge.  "  Look  at 
Willy  I" 

1 1  A  prince  of  philosophers !  Consider  him  well, 
my  disciple,  should  you  ever  become  a  man  of 
action.  The  courage  to  make  mistakes,  the  facil 
ity  of  readily  forgetting  them  as  he  rushes  on 
to  fresh  battles!  And  the  power  of  getting  a 
philosopher  on  his  staff!  But  go  on  with  your 
law." 

That  law  the  Big  Fellow  had  written  many 
times  in  imagination.  With  the  positive  period 
of  the  straight  line's  end  he  punctuated  it.  The 
refined  product  of  all  his  study,  of  all  the  plow 
ing  of  his  career  he  passed  to  his  patron,  who 
read  the  lines  slowly. 

"  You'll  do!  "  said  the  patron,  softly. 

We  may  well  follow  Uncle  Theodore  and  his 
letter  to  the  room  over  a  saloon  in  the  water 
front  district.  Boss  Birch's  character  was  too 
firmly  fixed  on  his  leathern  face  for  him  to  show 
any  surprise  over  the  nature  of  his  caller's  er 
rand.  In  the  adjoining  room,  where  the  city's 
inner  history  was  made  with  a  closed  door,  their 
conference  was  held,  with  the  Boss  at  a  small, 
flat-topped  desk  and  Theodore  Dexter  in  a  chair 
beside  him. 


THE  STRAIGHT  LINE'S  WAY  183 

"  Well,  come  pay-day  and  what's  your  price!  ' 
the  Boss  asked,  a  cigar  in  his  mouth. 

' '  An  act  for  the  public  welfare, ' '  said  Dexter. 

They  all  began  that  way,  especially  reformers. 
The  Boss  smiled  sardonically.  As  Dexter  took 
an  envelope  from  his  pocket  the  Boss's  eyes  grew 
greedy  for  that  which  had  cost  him  a  million  dol 
lars,  as  he  often  told  himself.  When  he  had  been 
on  the  point  of  some  bold  action,  a  word  from 
Theodore  Dexter  by  mail,  or  "  I  hope  you're  not 
going  as  far  as  the  papers  report  "  in  his  ear, 
made  him  hesitate. 

"  Well,  that  taught  me  a  lesson  never  to  write 
letters.  What  is  your  price!  "  he  repeated. 

"  Just  that  you  say  publicly  over  your  name 
that  you  will  support  the  passage  of  this  law  with 
all  your  influence — a  statement  in  your  own 
hand." 

The  Boss  read  the  law  slowly  and  thoughtfully. 

"  It's  so  plain  I  can  understand  it  myself,"  he 
asseverated  through  the  narrow  opening  between 
his  teeth.  He  took  out  his  cigar  only  to  listen, 
never  when  he  talked.  With  a  stub  pen,  in  a 
scrawling  hand  he  wrote:  "  I  will  work  to  pass 
this  law,  and  any  man  that's  a  friend  of  mine 
will.  (Signed)  Tom  Birch." 

"  That  has  the  true  ring,  Boss,  which  charac 
terizes  a  leader  of  men!  "  said  Dexter. 

"  I  don't  slop  over  much,  as  a  rule,"  he  re 
turned,  as  he  seized  the  letter.  Without  even 
looking  at  the  contents  he  began  tearing  it  into 
strips. 


184  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  The  Hummer 's  at  the  bottom  of  this,  ain't 
he?  "  he  asked. 

"  Partly/' 

' '  Knew  it.  Count  on  that  little  he-devil!  " 
Strip  by  strip  he  kept  on  tearing.  "  D'ye  ever 
hear,"  he  continued,  warming  with  the  joy  of 
having  that  damning  evidence  in  his  power, 
"  what  he  said  when  I  offered  to  run  him  for 
Mayor  this  last  time?  '  Run  me  for  Mayor!  '  he 
says.  '  Me!  '  jerking  it  out.  '  I'm  in  a  service! 
I  couldn't  take  office!  That  would  make  The 
Sentinel  a  personal  organ.  I'd  be  almost  as  bad 
as  a  man  who  uses  his  paper  to  get  himself  a 
foreign  mission.  Then  I  couldn't  tell  everybody 
everything.  No,  sir!  My  work's  cut  out.  No, 
sir,  Boss,  you  don't  get  a  chance  to  massacre 
me!  '  " 

"  Can  I  help  you  tear?  "  the  philosopher  asked, 
gently. 

1 1  Not  by  a  damned  sight !  I've  paid  enough  for 
this  pleasure  to  enjoy  it  alone." 

"  What  was  it  Judge  Harden  said  when  you 
tried  to  run  him  for  Mayor?  "  Dexter  pursued. 

"  It  was  an  honor  he  couldn't  refuse.  He  would 
be  glad  to  have  my  support.  That's  going  to  be 
easy,  I  thought.  I  wanted  his  name.  It  meant 
votes.  When  I  began  on  details  he  laughed  and 
said  he  wouldn't  make  any  promises.  The  more 
I  talked  the  more  he  laughed.  And  I  didn't  have 
to  run  him  because  I  could  scrape  through  with 
out  him.  What's  going  to  be  his  future?  Always 
on  the  bench,  I  wonder?  I  wonder!  Say,  he 


THE  STRAIGHT  LINE'S  WAY  185 

didn't  have  anything  to  do  with  this  game  that 
brought  you  here?  " 

"  Yes,  partly. " 

"  I  thought  so.  Powder  and  shell  together. 
Fireworks  and  law." 

Here  the  Boss  gathered  up  all  the  little  squares, 
triangles,  and  polygons  of  paper  from  the  desk 
and  put  them  in  his  pocket. 

"  What  I  would  like  to  know,"  he  said,  "  is 
why,  when  you  had  this  right  in  court  the  day 
of  the  Sweet ser-Byng  case,  you  didn't  use  it!  ' 

"  Possibly  I  wanted  to  see  if  my  disciple  could 
win  without  it.  I  enjoyed  a  test  of  character.  If 
he  couldn't  have  won,  I  was  going  to  save  Willy 
and  the  future  that  I  saw  in  his  single-hearted 
madness.  Possibly  I  saw  good  in  you,  Boss,  and 
in  Colonel  Walker  and  I  didn't  want  to  drag  you 
into  the  same  class  with  John  Byng." 

"  Thank  you.  I  wouldn't  like  that!  "  the  Boss 
said,  savagely.  "  If  I  had  to  go  to  jail  I'd  like 
other  company.  And  you  never  told  the  Judge 
nor  anybody!  " 

"  Nobody." 

"  Thank  you  for  that;"  and  the  glance  of  the 
Boss's  shrewd  eyes  spoke  his  gratitude.  "  I 
reckon  the  way  you  have  of  looking  around  the 
block,"  he  said,  after  Dexter  had  risen,  "  makes 
you  understand  me  better 'n  I  understand  you. 
And  how  do  you  find  it  feels  to  get  old?  It  makes 
me  pretty  blue,  sometimes." 

"  I've  just  the  thing  to  cure  you."  All  the 
wrinkles  of  Theodore  Dexter 's  kindly,  classic 


186  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

face  were  illumined  with  his  lively  sense  of  the 
humor  of  his  recommendation.  ' '  You  read  about 
these  young  hearts.  You  try  '  Araminta's  Hope.' 
I've  a  lot  of  young  hearts — a  whole  crate,  if  you 
say  so — I'll  send  you.  I've  read  them,  too,  so  that 
I  can  guarantee  that  they  have  happy  endings." 

"  Well,  I'll  try  it,"  said  the  Boss,  tilting  his 
cigar  and  showing  his  firm  teeth  in  a  smile. 
"  That  he-devil  never  lams  that  polite  blackmailer 
Byng  that  I  don't  kind  of  wish  him  luck.  I  guess 
I'm  for  him  because,  for  one  reason,  I  guess  I'll 
have  to  be  pretty  soon.  Suppose  this  statement 
of  mine  will  be  in  The  Sentinel  in  the  morning. 
Suppose  he's  got  you  reporting  for  him.  He'd 
get  the  Pope  if  he  could !  ' ' 

11  Yes,  he's  pretty  busy  to-night." 

"  Well,"  was  the  Boss's  final  word,  "  yon  don't 
charge  me  so  much.  That  is  a  good  law.  I'm 
glad  to  be  on  the  band  wagon." 

And  Willy  was  busy,  madly  busy,  his  mind 
churning.  He  knew  that  this  was  the  greatest 
day  of  his  career,  so  far.  A  commander  on  the 
field  of  battle,  he  stood  at  his  desk  sending  his 
directions  broadcast.  All  his  reporters  were  forth 
on  this  mission  which  engrossed  him  with  a  thou 
sand  details.  In  the  country  law  offices  of  legis 
lators  telephone  bells  were  tingling;  along  coun 
try  roads  men  were  racing  in  buggies;  on  trains 
or  vacations  State  Senators  were  being  traced — 
all  for  the  sake  of  that  law  in  a  copperplate  hand 
which  was  like  the  lettering  of  some  old  book, 


THE  STRAIGHT  LINE'S  WAY  187 

with  a  permanency  in  its  every  stroke,  which 
lay  on  Booth's  desk  in  the  midst  of  ephemeral 
flimsy  and  copy  in  scrawling,  if  plain,  reportorial 
hands. 

Time  had  mapped  that  State  in  Willy's  mind 
in  more  than  geography.  In  every  town  and  vil 
lage  he  knew  some  man  who  had  felt  the  touch 
of  his  mercurial  vitality.  He  knew  the  qualities 
of  his  agent  and  the  qualities  of  the  man  his  agent 
was  sent  to  convince. 

"  You're  sure  you  oughtn't  to  have  tried  the 
Governor  first?  "  Booth  asked. 

66  Yes.  I  know  the  Governor.  Storm  him  at 
ten  o'clock.  Madden  is  waiting  for  the  word  to 
charge.  He'll  have  a  list  of  all  the  names.  The 
Boss's  will  help.  i  There's  your  legislators'  sen 
timent  so  strong  they  didn't  even  wait  on  a  word 
from  you.  Even  old  Boss  Birch  is  on!  ' — I  hear 
Madden  saying  it  to  the  Governor." 

Mr.  Trennet,  Byng's  manager,  was  planning 
a  coup,  himself,  and  he  had  the  word  of  Byng  that 
he  might  go  ahead. 

"  The  Sentinel  will  have  to  support  the  Judge. 
Sweetser  can't  go  back  on  his  friend,"  he  had  re 
ported.  "  There's  a  wave  of  indignation  that  will 
let  us  ride  back  into  favor.  I'm  spreading  with 
interviews  on  the  injustice  done  the  city  and  the 
people  by  this  Walker  triumph  through  Sweet 
ser 's  judicial  hero." 

The  drift  of  Byng's  policy  The  Sentinel  men 
discovered,  and  they  telephoned  in  word  of  it 


188  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

with  the  avidity  of  scouting  parties  developing  an 
enemy's  advance. 

"  We're  willing  to  let  The  Courier  help  on  the 
good  cause,  Booth, "  said  Willy.  "  How  it  does 
work  out!  How  it  fits  in  with  all  we've  been 
trying  to  do  in  this  town!  Now  that  we  have 
the  chance  for  a  great  thing  we  can  get  it,  be 
cause,  with  old  Big  advising  us,  we've  never  gone 
off  half  primed  on  a  thing  that  looked  great  when 
it  wasn't." 

Booth  ran  his  hand  through  his  touseled  hair 
and  could  not  keep  the  Governor  off  his  mind. 
At  ten  they  sent  Madden  the  names  of  more  than 
half  of  the  State  legislators  and  waited.  At  ten- 
thirty,  "I've  got  it!"  came  over  the  long 
distance. 

"  Bully  for  you,  Madden!  "  answered  the  com- 
mander-in-chief.  "  Oh,  we're  all  going  to  remem 
ber  this  night's  work!  Now,  quick,  give  us  what 
the  Governor  said!  " 

Booth  was  in  a  fever  of  delight. 

"It's  not  time  to  yell  yet,"  said  Willy,  "  not 
yet!  He's  the  bell-wether  to  fifty  other  legis 
lators." 

These  men  he  had  located.  Someone  was  wait 
ing  at  a  telegraph  wire  ready  to  repeat  the  Gov 
ernor's  statement  to  each  one  of  them.  All  the 
keys  in  The  Sentinel's  telegraph  room  were  set 
clicking. 

"  Now  we  have  the  fireworks — the  next  thing 
is  to  set  them  off  properly!  "  Willy  turned  to 
other  features  in  his  plan.  Already  the  multiples 


THE  STRAIGHT  LINE'S  WAY  189 

were  knitting  out  the  first  edition,  with  two  pages 
blank  except  for  the  black  lettering : 

<  <  This  is  Free !  Watch  for  the  Second  Edition ! 
It  Will  Have  Something  Vital  to  Every  Citizen  of 
the  State!  " 

The  regular  edition  he  trebled.  Long  after  mid 
night  he  watched  the  first  copy  run  off,  and  he 
and  Booth  gloated  over  it.  That  law  in  bold  type 
stood  between  the  Governor's  and  the  Boss's 
statements,  followed  by  the  names  of  more  than 
three-fourths  of  the  State  legislators,  nailed  to 
the  promise  to  pass  the  amendment.  On  the  edi 
torial  page  he  had  written: 

4 '  The  Judge  was  right !  The  people  are  right ! 
They  will  change  the  law!  " 

He  remained  watching  the  big  presses  at  their 
work  in  the  automatic  precision  of  their  thousand 
parts,  and  for  a  time  he  was  unconscious  that 
Theodore  Dexter  and  the  Judge  were  standing  by 
his  side. 

"  They  are  yours  now,  Willy,"  said  the  Big 
Fellow. 

66  They're  ours — they're  the  service's!  All  I 
get  out  of  it  is  my  automobiles!  "  He  did  like 
automobiles.  They  fitted  his  nature  exactly. 
'  i  Yes,  the  automobiles !  Let  the  money  go  back. 
It's  a  service — and  I'm  hungry  as  a  lean,  hairy, 
old  bear  in  springtime,  Big.  Here  is  where  '48 
and  '88  go  to  Jerry's.  I  'phoned  him  to  keep 
open.  It's  just  ten  years  since  I  came  on  The 
Beacon.  You  brought  me  to  this,  Big!  You've 
made  me !  You  remember  what  you  said  that  day 


190  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

out  of  the  window  about  '88  being  a  power  for 
good  in  the  world?  ' 

And  a  power  for  good  at  least  two  of  the  '88 's 
had  been,  with  the  wisdom,  the  affection,  and  the 
experience  of  a  '48  at  their  call.  The  bench  had 
risen  in  the  respect  of  the  bar  and  the  people. 
Industries  thrived  in  that  city,  which  was  now 
overtaking  the  old  rival  in  population.  A  public 
spirit  that  had  a  distinct  character  had  been  born. 
Boss  Birch  was  finding  that  all  the  people,  even 
his  own  wards,  demanded  many  things,  to  which, 
formerly,  they  were  indifferent.  Men  were  more 
cheerful  and  less  cynical  and  they  worked  with 
a  better  will. 

Real  estate  was  booming,  as  Colonel  Walker 
said.  This  community  was  no  longer  known  as 
"  a  bad  newspaper  town."  Uncle  Theodore  could 
see,  if  others  did  not,  that  the  result  was  due 
to  the  tone  of  the  daily  lesson  sent  out  from  The 
Sentinel  office  for  all  to  read  by  Willy  Sweetser, 
who  was  no  reformer  of  academic  "  isms  "  gaz 
ing  skyward,  but  a  merry  man  of  his  hour  and 
his  day,  who  loved  the  explosions.  "  You  can 
make  a  good  thing  just  as  interesting  as  a  bad 
one  if  you  know  how,"  he  said,  "  and  you  don't 
always  have  to  point  a  moral  with  a  sigh  i£  order 
to  get  a  moral  result. ' ' 

While  Jerry  fed  that  lean  bear,  the  '88 's  tried 
to  draw  Uncle  Theodore  on  how  he  had  been  able 
to  thaw  out  Boss  Birch. 


THE  STRAIGHT  LINE'S  WAY  191 

"  That's  between  him  and  me,"  said  he,  with  a 
whimsical  sing  to  his  sentences.  "  The  Boss  is 
mellowing,  I  think,  and  I  hope  to  do  him  a  good 
turn  by  sending  him  '  Araminta's  Hope.'  He  and 
I  may  yet  form  an  old  men's  club :  Object,  to  keep 
young  hearts  from  breaking;  and  you  are  ex 
pected  to  agitate  for  a  new  law,  Willy,  that  will 
hit  the  heavy  fathers  hard !  ' ' 


XIX 

THE   OFFICE   SEEKS   THE    MAN 

POOR  Mr.  Trennet !  There  was  genuine  sym 
pathy  for  him  in  the  office  of  The  Sentinel, 
for  he  had  faithfully  served  his  master's 
purpose  in  life.  All  its  interviews  and  all  The 
Courier  had  to  say  on  the  decision  were  but  the 
echoing  cheer  of  a  rival's  victory.  Its  attack  on 
the  Judge  was  an  attack  on  itself,  in  the  minds 
of  thinking  men. 

When  John  Byng  saw  the  two  papers  side  by 
side,  he  said  in  disgust  that  he  would  get  out  of 
the  newspaper  business — it  was  not  fit  for  a  gen 
tleman — and  stick  to  breweries  and  traction. 
When  Colonel  Walker  saw  them  his  feelings  were 
mixed.  At  first,  himself  a  great  commander,  he 
could  not  restrain  his  admiration  for  a  general 
who  could  accomplish  all  that  Willy  Sweetser  had 
in  sixteen  hours.  Then,  reading  deeper  than  the 
headlines,  he  thought: 

"  Damn  him!  Damn  politician!  He's  the 
man  behind  it — behind  everything!  His  father's 
son,  but  more  ballast,  more  chin.  I  knew  it  right 
from  the  start." 

This  was  the  last  time  in  this  era  that  he  ever 
used  a  "  damn  "  as  an  honorific  for  the  Big  Fel- 

192 


THE  OFFICE  SEEKS  THE  MAN  193 

low.  In  this  "  damn  "  there  had  been  a  little 
fondness,  which  was  at  an  end.  Other  cases  of  the 
State  vs.  Walker  were  on  the  calendar.  Judge 
Harden,  no  passing  trouble,  now  rose  to  the  dis 
tinction  of  an  arch  enemy.  The  old  Colonel,  who 
loved  obstacles  and  loved  a  good  fight,  ate  his 
breakfast  with  the  zest  of  one  planning  a  new 
campaign.  He  might  be  sixty-five  and  becoming 
a  bit  careless,  as  he  frequently  remarked  to  him 
self  in  those  days,  but  let  him  wake  up  and  he 
could  still  set  the  pace  for  any  of  these  young 
fellows  who  mistook  ambition  for  a  knowledge 
of  the  game.  So  let  them  be  warned  in  time. 

Turning  over  the  other  pages  of  The  Sentinel 
— which  he  always  read  first  because  "  it  was  so 
interesting  " — he  saw  in  an  inside  column  a  dis 
patch  from  Washington  which  told  how  the  gov 
ernment  was  looking  for  a  Governor  for  Bar. 
None  of  the  men  asked  would  accept,  and  none 
who  offered  their  services  were  satisfactory  in 
this  extremity.  Having  read  that  item  twice,  the 
Colonel,  after  lighting  his  cigar,  concluded  that 
the  brand  was  not  depreciating  so  much  as  he 
feared  and  he  ordered  another  thousand  of  the 
same  kind. 

"  Talk  about  coincidences !  "  he  said,  as  he  rose 
— for  that  afternoon  he  was  to  spend  an  hour  on 
the  private  car  of  the  President,  who  was  passing 
through  the  State. 

Now,  the  Islands  were  much  in  the  public  eye  in 
those  days.  Some  said  that  we  got  them  from 
destiny  and  some  said  from  Spain  in  that  little 


194  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

war  in  which  one  of  the  original  members  of 
Willy 's  newsboy  battalion  went  up  the  hill  with 
the  Rough  Riders.  We  cheered  our  heroes  and 
paid  the  bills.  In  certain  quarters  there  was  much 
concern  over  our  moral  wickedness  in  ruling  an 
alien  people;  in  others,  only  the  conviction  that 
we  would  have  to  make  the  best  of  a  bad  bargain. 
But  generally  we  were  too  busy  to  bother  over 
details.  The  Judge  thought  colonial  expansion 
against  our  principles,  but  believed  we  must  not 
shirk  our  duty.  Theodore  Dexter  took  a  stronger 
view. 

"  By  the  thousand  books,"  he  said,  "  from 
Moses  down,  we  have  the  right  to  teach  them  if 
a  schoolmaster  has  the  right  to  teach  a  child! 
Nothing  can  be  so  cowardly  as  intellectual  mo 
rality.  If  we  don't  believe  in  our  right,  then  we 
don't  believe  in  our  civilization,  and  would  better 
start  a  new  one." 

Primarily,  wouldn't  somebody  please  find  a 
way  to  keep  the  Islands  quiet?  And  more  par 
ticularly  that  island  of  Bar?  To  Colonel  Walker, 
who  had  never  thought  of  them  as  anything  except 
a  means  of  more  taxation  which  he  would  have 
to  assist  in  paying,  they  became,  for  the  first  time, 
an  appealing  entity.  He  saw  a  use  for  them. 

With  the  tongue  of  experience  he  spoke  into 
the  great  man's  ear.  Do  you  think  he  suggested 
that  it  would  be  better  if  Harden  were  out  of 
the  State?  Hardly.  He  was  the  felicitous  dis 
coverer  of  the  ideal  man.  Willy  Sweetser  could 
not  have  better  sounded  the  Judge's  praises. 


THE  OFFICE  SEEKS  THE  MAN     195 

"  A  big  fellow!  "  said  the  Colonel.  "  Big  in 
heart  and  in  mind.  When  he  comes  into  a  room 
with  his  smile  and  his  handshake  he  makes  friends 
all  around.  You  may  go  to  him  boiling  angry  and 
he  can  send  you  away  pleased,  though  you  didn't 
get  what  you  wanted.  I  confess  I  don't  quite 
understand  him — no,  I  don 't.  Ne-eh !  But  I  never 
did  admire  a  man  more. ' ' 

The  President  was  interested.  He  had  met  the 
Big  Fellow  once  and  had  heard  much  of  him,  and 
he  concluded  to  make  further  inquiries. 

"  He's  the  kind  that  looks  all  around  a  sub 
ject,"  the  Colonel  continued.  "  Everybody  who 
sees  him  says  at  once:  i  Here's  a  big,  honest  man; 
what's  his  opinion?  '  Seems  to  me,  when  he  be 
gan  to  pour  oil  on  the  troubled  tropical  waters 
they'd  have  to  go  down.  Why,  he's  big  enough 
to  scare  the  natives  with  his  size  and  hypnotize 
'em  with  his  laugh!  " 

The  Colonel  felt  quite  patriotic — wasn't  it  pa 
triotism  of  a  high  order  to  send  the  Judge  out 
of  the  State? — as  a  secretary  took  a  message  ask 
ing  Judge  Harden  if  he  would  not  come  to  Wash 
ington  and,  as  an  appointment  must  soon  be  made, 
at  his  earliest  possible  convenience. 

The  Big  Fellow  received  this  telegram  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  day  after  the  decision.  With  a 
shout  of  astonishment  he  passed  it  to  Uncle  Theo 
dore,  who  settled  deep  in  his  chair  and  seemed  to 
shrivel  when  he  had  read  it. 

"  Don't  ask  me,"  he  said.  "  That  people 
need  the  thousand  books.  Who  so  fit  as  you  to 


196  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

carry  them?  And  what  shall  I  do  without  my 
disciple?  ' 

"  I  would  have  to  leave  the  bench,"  Big  re 
turned,  slowly.  "  It  changes  my  whole  career. 
It  upsets  everything. " 

"  If  that's  the  only  reason,  I  doubt  if  it  holds 
water.  You  ought  not  to  be  a  judge,  though  you 
are  such  a  good  one.  You  only  think  you  ought. ' ' 

1 l  There  you  are  developing  one  of  the  wrinkles 
in  your  brain  that  I  don't  understand,  Uncle  Theo 
dore,"  Big  responded. 

' '  The  essay !  ' '  exclaimed  Uncle  Theodore,  sud 
denly  reverting  to  the  thing  that  had  brought  the 
two  together  ten  years  ago.  "  There  you  said 
that,  with  our  civilization  and  our  principles,  we 
would  be  warranted  in  taking  charge  of  a  foreign 
people  only  for  the  purpose  of  implanting  in  their 
minds  the  character  that  would  enable  them  to 
govern  themselves." 

' i  So  we  would!  "  answered  Big.  "  I  suppose 
I  ought  to  get  out  my  '  long  '  and  '  high. '  ' '  With 
out  any  show  of  enthusiasm  he  took  his  dress-suit 
case  down  from  the  closet  shelf.  ' '  Anyway,  I  can 
hear  what  the  President  has  to  say."  The  worst 
of  this  surprising  thing  was  that  it  had  come  just 
as  he  was  about  to  start  for  home  full  of  other 
thoughts. 

"  You  could  not  well  do  otherwise." 

However,  Willy  Sweetser,  who  came  in  directly, 
was  not  between  two  opinions.  Once  he  sat  on 
the  frock  coat  and  refused  to  let  the  Big  Fellow 
go  on  with  his  packing.  He  stormed ;  he  argued ; 


THE  OFFICE  SEEKS  THE  MAN  197 

he  threw  a  pillow  at  Uncle  Theodore  as  a  shame 
ful  teacher  for  not  spanking  his  pupil. 

"  You,  Big,  are  you  out  of  your  senses'?  "  he 
stormed.  "  You,  a  judge  here  in  this  State  with 
twelve  years  to  serve,  going  out  among  a  lot  of 
chocolate  drops  that  wear  a  mango  leaf  on  a 
string  for  week  days  and  a  frayed  palm  leaf  for 
Sundays — out  there  to  bury  yourself?  Here  in 
these  big  United  States  is  the  place  to  be.  Why, 
those  islands  aren't  the  tail  of  a  dog  to  us !  They 
aren't  the  bob-tail  of  a  fox  terrier!  They  aren't 
one  hair  on  the  elephant's  tail!  " — which  was  the 
limit,  for  the  present,  of  Willy's  exaggerated  sim 
iles.  "  I'll  'phone  over  a  telegram  to  go  from 
the  office,  saying :  t  Highly  honored,  but  prefer 
ences  for  the  bench.'  " 

He  started  for  the  telephone.  The  Big  Fellow 
grabbed  him  by  the  shoulders  and  set  him  on 
a  chair,  and  Willy  threatened  to  kick  somebody's 
shins  if  not  let  alone. 

"  I  haven't  decided  yet.  You've  gobbled  bait 
and  line,"  the  Judge  remonstrated. 

1  i  But  you  will !  When  you  get  in  the  Frock- 
coated  Presence  you  will !  Well,  there's  one  thing 
I  can  do.  I'll  have  a  few  words  to  say  to  the 
President  for  a  confounded  meddler !  ' 

"  I  haven't  decided  yet,"  Big  repeated.  "  I 
don't  expect  to  accept.  But  courtesy  demands 
that  I  go  to  Washington." 

"  And  what  am  I  to  do  without  you!"  Willy 
pleaded. 

"And  what  am  I?"  asked  Uncle  Theodore, 


198  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

sinking  still  deeper  into  his  chair.  He  would  not 
let  himself  think  of  the  prospect.  "  I  have  just 
found  a  new  line  of  young  hearts.  I  will  try 
to  be  cheerful,"  he  added,  with  an  effort  at  a 
smile. 

The  Big  Fellow  paused,  with  his  hand  on  the 
lid  of  the  dress-suit  case-: 

"  And  what  am  I  without  you,  my  friends — my 
friends?  "  Fondly  he  looked  into  their  faces. 
Fondly  he  looked  at  the  walls  of  books.  "  And 

what  without "  but  this  corollary  he  did  not 

utter  aloud.  It  was  in  his  mind  not  to  go.  For 
an  instant  they  saw  him  hesitate  before  he 
snapped  the  clasps. 

"  It's  unlikely;  it's  out  of  the  question,"  he 
said.  "  I'll  have  a  look  'round  in  Washington. 
I'll  meet  some  men  I  want  to  know.  That's  all." 

All  the  way  to  the  station  Willy  argued.  He 
had  an  impulse  to  jump  on  the  train,  which  he 
did  not  act  on,  though  he  did  on  most  of  his  im 
pulses.  At  every  important  station  came  tele 
grams  from  him,  with,  "  What  am  I  to  do  with 
out  you?  "  at  the  end  of  every  one.  "  I've  looked 
up  the  trade  of  that  archipelago  of  tropical  gold 
bricks  and  it  is  less  than  half  this  State.  Our 
city's  worth  the  whole  lot,"  he  said;  and  again: 
"  If  you  want  to  go  into  the  governing  business 
stay  right  here  where  there's  something  that 
wears  clothes  to  govern.  I'll  make  you  Governor 
of  the  State  in  two  years." 

To  the  President  he  sent  a  thousand  words,  the 
sum  of  which  was  that  kidnapping  valuable  public 


THE  OFFICE  SEEKS  THE  MAN  199 

servants  ought  to  be  a  felony.  "  Send  a  mission 
ary  to  preach  to  them  and  a  soldier  to  convert 
them,"  he  concluded.  It  was  a  mad  wire-letter, 
and  so  interesting  that  the  whole  Cabinet  read 
it  as  a  literary  curiosity. 

When  Big  left  Washington  the  next  evening, 
although  he  could  guess  none  of  its  difficulties  in 
detail,  he  understood  broadly  the  uninviting  con 
ditions  of  the  task  which  he  was  now  definitely 
asked  to  undertake,  at  the  sacrifice  of  his  career 
and  comfort  at  home,  for  the  one  reason  that  the 
office  sought  the  man.  The  previous  Civil  Gov 
ernor  had  failed  miserably,  by  his  own  confession. 
"  If  you  want  to  bury  your  reputation  and  get 
the  fever  there  is  your  chance,"  as  a  friend  in 
the  War  Department  told  Big. 

Martial  law  was  the  only  thing  to  prevent  a 
continuation  of  anarchy  and  massacre,  said  the 
army.  But  the  President,  ever  of  a  hopeful  na 
ture,  would  not  give  up  his  idea  of  inculcating 
civil  rights  at  the  same  time  that  military  meas 
ures  proceeded.  The  right  man  who  would  work 
in  harmony  with  the  commander  of  the  forces  he 
sought,  and  would  send  at  once;  and  he  saw  that 
here  was  one  who  knew  the  law  and  the  humani 
ties  of  the  thousand  books. 

"  I  want  a  man  in  whose  blood  runs  the  very 
spirit  of  our  Constitution,"  he  said. 

"  You  will  have  my  answer  in  thirty-six  hours, 
Mr.  President,"  responded  Big,  simply.  "  I'll 
think  it  over  on  the  way  and  there  is  someone  I 
wish  to  consult  at  home,  besides." 


200  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

Bound  for  Bolton,  he  passed  the  city  by.  When 
he  started  to  look  through  the  envelopes  of  re 
ports  and  other  information,  which  the  Depart 
ment  had  prepared  for  him,  he  found  himself 
looking  out  of  the  car  window,  where  he  saw 
letter  pages  in  a  schoolgirl  hand. 


XX 

WHEN   A   TELEGRAM   ARRIVED 

THE  Harden  family  was  at  supper.  Pam, 
who  was  gravely  waiting  on  table,  went  to 
the  door  when  the  bell  rang. 

"  Any  answer?  "  the  telegraph  boy  asked. 

"  Yo'  sit  right  dar  in  dat  chair, "  said  Pam,  in 
a  lordly  way,  as  if  several  telegraph  boys  waited 
on  the  porch  every  day,  "  an'  don'  yo'  git  impa 
tient  an'  I'll  tell  yo'  in  due  co'se  o'  time  if 
dey  is." 

With  the  care  of  one  drawing  up  a  will  he 
signed  his  name  to  the  receipt  book. 

11  Mrs.  James  Harden,"  he  spelled  out,  as  he 
laid  the  yellow  envelope  on  the  table  in  front 
of  Madame  Mother. 

It  must  be  from  Big,  everybody  thought.  Had 
anything  happened  to  him?  Silence  prevailed, 
while  Aunt  Julia  and  Ellen  made  pretense  that 
they  were  still  eating. 

"  Will  you  bring  my  glasses,  Pam?  "  Madame 
Mother  requested. 

Pam  fidgeted  about,  looking  in  one  place  and 
another,  each  being  the  wrong  place. 

"  In  my  work-basket,  of  course,  you  simple 
ton!  "  she  told  him. 

201 


202  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

Meanwhile,  she  held  the  envelope  up  to  the 
light.  When  the  glasses  were  brought  she  slit 
it  with  a  fruit  knife  and  opened  the  sheet  delib 
erately;  but  at  first  she  did  not  read  the  message 
aloud.  Of  course  not,  when  it  was  addressed  to 
the  head  of  the  household  personally. 

She  made  a  movement  as  if  she  were  going  to 
lay  it  to  one  side,  still  without  revealing  the  con 
tents,  and  then  proceeded  to  read  again,  while 
Pam,  standing  close  behind  her  chair,  lifted  first 
one  foot  and  then  the  other  as  if  they  pricked  him. 

"  Character  will  tell  in  the  long  run,'7  said 
Madame  Mother,  finally,  a  touch  of  color,  the  color 
of  pride,  in  her  cheeks.  "  We  have  always  had 
character  in  our  family. " 

11  But  what  is  it?  What  is  it!  May  we  know?  " 
Ellen  could  hold  her  tongue  no  longer. 

"  Yis,  yo'se  in  de  light,  but  we's  plumb  in  de 
dark  an'  bustin'  with  curiosity,"  said  Pam. 

Then  she  informed  them — as  if  it  were  nothing 
to  take  a  Harden  off  his  feet  when  the  head  of 
the  nation  honors  him — of  the  President's  offer 
and  of  Big's  journey  to  Washington.  Ellen  was 
elate  with  the  wonder  of  the  thing.  Aunt  Julia 
had  an  opinion  instantly. 

"  Well,  he  won't  go — not  out  among  all  those 
savages!  "  she  declared. 

"  Any  answer?  "  called  the  boy  from  the  door 
way. 

"  No,  dey  ain',"  said  Pam,  on  a  nod  from 
Madame  Mother;  but  Ellen  jumped  up  from  the 
table. 


WHEN  A  TELEGRAM  ARRIVED  203 

"  Yes,  oh,  yes!  "  she  said.  "  I  want  to  send 
one!  I  must  to  splendid  old  Big!  Let's  see- 
it's  ten  words  for  twenty-five  cents — i  Splendid 
Big  Ninety  in  Calculus  Honorable  Court  poten 
tate  salaams  prostratipns.'  There,  that's  ten  and 
the  signature  is  free.  But  I  can  cut  out  '  in  '  and 
that  gives  me  another  word.  I'll  make  it 
6  hooray  ' !  " 

Aunt  Julia  opposed  the  extravagance. 

"  He'll  be  here  day  after  to-morrow  and  you 
can  tell  him  enough  nonsense  when  he  arrives," 
she  added. 

So  the  telegraph  boy  departed  without  an  an 
swer.  A  shade  of  annoyance  on  Ellen's  face  lasted 
only  long  enough  for  a  smile  to  drive  it  away. 
Bebuffed  in  one  direction,  her  enthusiasm  found 
an  outlet  in  another.  Oh,  that  French  and  Irish 
blood! 

"  We  must  inform  ourselves!  "  she  declared. 
"  We  must  know  all  about  the  island  of  Bar !  But 
isn't  it  like  old  Big,  so  simple  and  good,  to  be 
asked  by  the  President  to  be  a  potentate !  ' 

Supper  only  half  eaten,  she  hurried  away.  Mr. 
Hobber  she  knew  was  a  great  reader.  Despite 
Mrs.  Hobber 's  stubbornly  maintained  opinion 
that  Ellen  was  a  harum-scarum  girl  who  would 
elope  or  do  something  strange,  she  and  Hiram, 
out  of  a  common  interest  in  the  Big  Fellow's 
career,  had  struck  up  a  real  and  understanding 
friendship. 

"  Well!  well!  "  drawled  Mr.  Hobber.  "  This 
is  ewtresting!  Come  back  and  let's  talk  it  over 


204  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

when  you  get  posted ;"  and  he  gave  her  a  pam 
phlet  which  he  had  received  under  the  local  Con 
gressman's  frank. 

From  the  library  of  the  local  doctor  were  forth 
coming  a  map  and  a  book  that  had  a  chapter  on 
Bar;  and  with  these  in  her  arms  she  went  trip 
ping  back  to  the  house,  reveling  in  the  prospect 
of  an  whole  evening  in  the  Far  East. 

"  He  did  not  wire  me,  his  partner  in  secrets," 
she  thought.  "  No.  But  he  wrote,  I  know!  I'll 
have  a  letter  from  him  for  my  own  self  to-morrow, 
with  all  kinds  of  details,  and  I  must  think  what 
to  tell  him  when  he  is  making  up  his  mind  about 
accepting. ' ' 

On  that  map,  spread  on  the  sitting-room  table, 
she  pointed  out  the  island  itself,  a  dot,  which  her 
forefinger  tip  would  completely  cover,  in  the 
broad  Pacific,  with  its  sea  routes  so  many  sprays 
of  dotted  lines  proceeding  from  the  great  ports. 

"  Why  don'  dey  go  straight!  Why  is  dey 
circlin'  when  yo'  don'  have  to  go  'roun'  no  hills 
in  de  ocean?  "  asked  Pam,  proposing  to  inform 
himself,  also. 

"  Because,"  Ellen  answered,  "  they  cut  the 
curve  of  the  earth,  that  being  the  shortest  way." 

"  Dey  do,  eh?  "  Pam  scanned  that  flat  stretch 
of  blue  skeptically.  "  Well,  all  I  kin  say  is  dat 
dat  air  shows  de  value  of  an  eddercation  which 
don'  'splain  nuffin  to  no  one  dat  ain'  got  no 
eddercation. ' ' 

Ellen  forgot  Bar  for  the  fraction  of  a  second 
that  it  takes  to  consider  what  the  family  would 


WHEN  A  TELEGRAM  AREIVED  205 

do  without  Pam,  and  then  flew  back  to  the  realm 
of  speculation. 

"  Eight  thousand  miles  from  San  Francisco! 
Think  of  it !  And  a  good  deal  farther  from  Bol- 
ton!  Think  of  Mister  Ninety  in  Calculus,  that  I 
bombarded  with  cherries  and  who  split  wood  for 
Mr.  Hobber  and  couldn't  really  wash  the  dishes 
as  fast  as  I  could  wipe,  traveling  so  far  to  a  king 
dom  we  never  heard  of!  What  a  voyage  it  must 
be!  What  revelations!  " 

"  Let  us  hear  something  from  the  book.  Won't 
you  read  it?  "  asked  Madame  Mother. 

Ellen  took  up  the  book  after  another  longing 
glance  at  the  voyage  routes  in  the  blue  space, 
"  whar  de  Lawd  dropped  a  li'l  hunk  o'  yearth 
fo'  dem  Wawyan  Islands  on  His  way  'cross  to 
make  Asia  af tah  He  done  make  'Merica, ' '  as  Pam 
said. 

"  Capital,  Takar.  Population,  one  million," 
she  began.  "  A  million  people!  That's  half  the 
population  of  this  State — and  Big  would  rule 
them  all  and  be  President  and  teacher  and  boss ! 
What  a  great,  picturesque,  far-off  thing  to  do !  I 
am  sure  he  will  go !  " 

"  Ellen,  I'm  afraid  a  college  education  has 
filled  your  head  with  romantic  notions,"  Aunt 
Julia  remonstrated.  "I'm  sure  he  won't  go, 
when  he's  a  Judge  with  twelve  years  to  serve." 

"  That  Jimmy  and  I,"  with  a  trace  of  accent  on 
the  pronoun,  "  will  have  to  consider,"  Madame 
Mother,  who  was  never  stampeded,  reminded  her 
sister. 


206  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  *  Takar  has  one  hundred  thousand  people,  a 
large  public  square,  with  a  cathedral  and  a  Presi- 
dencia,'  "  Ellen  quoted.  "  The  Presidencia  is 
where  Big  would  live  and  dispense  the  law.  I 
wonder  if  he  has  a  gold  chair  to  sit  in  and  a 
retinue  in  yellow  silk?  *  A  few  foreign  traders 
beside  the  officials  and  priests  form  the  white 
population/  "  she  read  on.  "  '  Five  per  cent., 
mostly  in  the  capital,  are  mixed  blood,  who  earn 
their  living  by  their  wits,  while  the  natives  are 
the  most  martial  and  cunning  of  any  of  the 
Islands. '  And  Big  will  have  to  master  them !  It 's 
good  he  is  a  giant.  Can't  you  see  him  talking  it 
over  with  them,  guiding  them,  scolding  them, 
spanking  them,  maybe?  He  is  big  enough  to 
spank  them,  two  at  a  time." 

"  If  dey's  a  million  of  'em  he'd  have  to  have  a 
spankin'  machine,"  interjected  Pam,  who  was 
making  a  pretense  in  the  background  of  polishing 
the  silver. 

"  That  will  do,  Pam  "  (from  Madame  Mother). 

"  Ellen,  if  you  wouldn't  comment  so  much  and 
read  straight  ahead  we  would  get  the  sense  bet 
ter,"  said  Aunt  Julia. 

This  she  did  quite  obediently,  reserving  her 
own  thoughts  for  bed-time,  when  she  lay  awake, 
seeing  the  Big  Fellow  land  on  a  sandy  beach 
under  the  palms,  where  he  received  the  saluta 
tions  of  a  brown  populace.  How  she  would  like 
to  be  present,  she  thought,  on  this  august  occa 
sion!  But  in  the  morning  she  would  have  a  let 
ter  from  him  in  that  copperplate  hand  with  the 


WHEN  A  TELEGRAM  ARRIVED  207 

whole  story.  A  letter  did  come  in  the  morning, 
addressed  to  Madame  Mother  and  inside  to  "  All 
the  Folks  at  Home, ' '  and  it  related  at  length  what 
the  telegram  had  told  them  in  brief. 

Ellen's  gayety  was  a  little  affected  at  the  break 
fast  table.  She  had  almost  nothing  to  say  about 
the  island  of  Bar.  She  was  preoccupied  with  a 
bargain  that  she  had  made  one  night,  sitting  on 
the  porch  roof — a  bargain  for  keeps.  Hadn't  he 
broken  it?  When  such  a  great  thing  had  come 
into  his  life  didn't  it  occur  to  him  to  write  one 
word  to  the  partner  of  his  secrets!  What  did 
he  think — that  when  that  bargain  was  made 
she  was  only  a  little  schoolgirl,  who  would  help 
to  keep  things  going  happily  at  home — and  how 
hard  she  had  tried  to  do  this! — and  now  that  he 
was  famous  and  successful  she  was  only  a  grown 
up  schoolgirl,  to  whom  he  would  be  kind!  He 
meant  the  world  to  her — all  the  world  outside  of 
Bolton — and  always  had.  In  world  affairs  she 
wanted  to  be  his  real  counsellor. 

Having  said  the  night  before  that  she  was  going 
to  Stottstown  for  more  books  about  Bar,  she  went, 
and,  besides,  the  journey  gave  her  something  to 
do,  when  she  was  finding  none  too  much  to  occupy 
her  busy  nature  at  home. 

"  After  all  that  trouble  she  didn't  read  them, 
but  goes  tramping  across  the  fields,"  Aunt  Julia 
confided  to  Madame  Mother  at  tea-time.  "  I'm 
afraid  Ellen  is  getting  very  changeable.  I'm  al 
most  afraid  she  is  going  to  be  headstrong." 

The  tramp,  at  first  glum,  grew  delightful  when, 


208  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

on  a  new  tangent  of  reasoning,  she  explained  the 
situation  to  her  own  satisfaction  and  accused  her 
self  of  selfishness  and  her  usual  impulsiveness 
and  thoughtlessness  for  ever  having  seen  it  in 
any  other  way.  Big  was  very  busy.  He  had 
written  a  hurry  note  for  the  general  information 
of  the  family.  But  before  he  decided  he  would 
have  a  long  talk  with  her.  Of  course  he  would. 
They  would  be  quite  by  themselves  for  hours,  and 
this  thought  set  her  to  guessing  his  questions  and 
planning  what  her  answers  would  be.  When  she 
returned  to  the  house,  the  argosy  of  her  imagina 
tion  was  bending  on  full  sail  in  Pacific  seas. 

11  Have  you  heard,  Pam,"  she  asked  him,  sol 
emnly,  "  about  the  strange  thing  that  happens  in 
the  Pacific  Ocean  when  you  cross  the  180th  mer 
idian?  You  either  lose  or  gain  a  day.  For  ex 
ample,  you  have  two  Tuesdays  or  no  Tuesday 
at  all!  " 

Pam  was  growing  wise  to  the  pitfalls  in  Far 
Eastern  intelligence. 

"  Dat  ain'  nuffin.  Dat's  jes'  as  easy — jes'  as 
easy.  Ise  often  fought  it  was  a  Sunday  when  it 
was  a  Sat 'day  an'  fought  it  was  a  Monday — 
speshully  when  de  washin'  was  heavy — two  days 
a-runnin'.  Yis  indeedy!  " 


MADAME    MOTHER    DECIDES 

WHO  gave  him  his  first  "  stent,"  anyway? 
Who  told  him  that  his  future  character 
rested  on  the  payment  of  two  hundred 
and  forty-eight  dollars  and  fifty  cents  on  time? 
Hiram  Hobber  felt  a  genial  proprietorship  in  the 
Judge  and  a  partnership  in  all  his  fortunes ;  and 
he  had  the  luck  to  board  at  Stottstown  the  train 
which  was  bringing  the  Big  Fellow  home  from 
Washington. 

11  Not  'spectin'  to  do  any  travelin'  soon,  eh, 
Judge?  "  he  began,  Yankee  fashion. 

"  I  don't  know  yet,"  was  the  answer.  "  It  is  a 
long  journey." 

"  Well,  you  take  that  heathen  job,"  said  Hiram. 
"  I've  been  readin'  up  on  the  subject  an'  the 
President  ain't  sent  out  no  thin'  yet  but  politicians 
an'  perfessors.  They're  all  right  in  their  way — 
politicians  is  useful  sometimes,  an'  perfessors  is 
— but  it's  plain  as  day  they  ain't  to  be  mixed; 
leastwise,  not  when  affairs  is  pressin'." 

"  Not  when  affairs  are  pressing,  hardly,"  Big 
admitted.  ' '  In  quiet  times,  with  plenty  of  leisure 
to  experiment,  it  might  be  worth  while,  in  the  hope 
of  finding  how  many  parts  professor  and  how 

209 


210  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

many  parts  politician  you  should  mix  for  an  ideal 
combination. " 

"  Why,  you  don't  want  some  thin'  everybody 
else  has  found  easy,  do  you!  "  asked  Hiram,  the 
advocate.  "  That's  where  the  fun  an'  glory  come 
in.  Yes,  sir,  you  go  out  an'  clean  up  that  heathen 
job,  Judge.  You  can  do  it." 

Epaminanidad,  who  was  at  the  station,  was  al 
lowed  to  carry  the  case  containing  the  "  high," 
which  the  Big  Fellow  refused,  Judge  though  he 
was,  to  wear  on  any  except  formal  occasions,  while 
he  himself  carried  the  bulging  dress-suit  case. 
Hiram  walked  with  them  as  far  as  the  gate.  After 
it  was  opened  Pam  began  snickering. 

"  What  are  you  laughing  about  up  in  your  nose, 
you  humbug?  "  Big  asked,  as  they  started  along 
the  path. 

"Me!  I  isn't  laffin',  'deed  I  isn't!  Jes'  a  li'l 
snuffles  cotched  from  leavin'  de  winder  open  las' 
night — te-he-he!  ' 

In  proof  that  he  was  not  laughing,  Pam  dropped 
the  hat  case  and  doubled  up  in  a  convulsion  just 
as  something  struck  His  Honor  on  the  nose. 

1  i  Wuss  'n  she  ever  was !  De  mischief  in  her 
done  kep'  right  on  growin'  aftah  she  stopped 
growin'  herse'f !  "  said  Pam. 

With  ten  years'  difference  between  their  ages, 
Ellen  had  come  home  from  graduation  just  ten 
years  after  Mister  Ninety  in  Calculus  had,  and 
when  cherries  were  ripe.  In  spirit  and  in  quality 
she  had  changed  little.  At  times  she  was  as  young 
as  on  the  day  of  the  first  bombardment;  at  times, 


MADAME  MOTHER  DECIDES 

as  her  schoolmates  had  said,  she  could  be  so  wise 
and  sensible  that  you  would  never  guess  her 
capable  of  a  fanciful  senior  play.  It  was  a  supple 
figure  and  slim  that  Big  saw  half  leaning  against 
the  trunk  of  the  old  tree,  while  her  eyes,  whose 
spell  was  always  over  him,  were  speaking  a 
dozen  kinds  of  electric  defiance  as  she  inquired,  in 
mock  solemnity: 

'  *  Shall  I  aim  for  the  honorable  shirt  bosom  of 
His  Honor  or  shall  I  drop  one  into  the  brim  of  the 
honorable  hat!  ' 

i  i  Jump,  or  I  come  after  you !  "  he  called. 

"  Oh,  no,  not  I!  "  she  returned,  in  sober  cal 
culation.  "  The  Honorable  Court  is  not  good 
enough  on  the  catch.  I  would  not  rumple  his  dig 
nity.7' 

Up  he  started,  the  tree  shaking  with  his  weight. 
She  slipped  to  one  side,  managing  her  skirts 
gracefully,  and  alighted.  Then  she  seized  a 
dangling  foot  and  had  him  there  between  ground 
and  limb,  helpless. 

"  What  a  position  for  the  Honorable  Court  to 
be  in !  Observe  him,  Pam !  ' ' 

"  Yo'  suttinly  done  got  him!  Te-he-he!  "  gig 
gled  that  partisan  of  the  Spartans. 

Aunt  Julia  had  left  the  porch  at  the  inception  of 
the  performance. 

"  Ellen!  "  she  called,  severely,  "  if  you  went  to 
school  in  the  East  one  more  year  I  presume  you 
would  be  walking  the  fence  in  a  circus  rider's  cos 
tume!  Don't  you  know  that  passing  neighbors 
will  see  how  you  are  behaving?  " 


212  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  Yes,  aunt,  the  Honorable  Court  does  look 
ridiculous ;  ' '  and  she  let  him  down. 

"Ellen!  Ellen!  "  Aunt  Julia  repeated,  sol 
emnly. 

The  Big  Fellow  broke  into  a  peal  of  joy  which 
startled  Madame  Mother,  who  was  sitting  on  the 
porch,  suffering  a  little  from  rheumatism.  It  did 
not  seem  quite  in  keeping  with  a  Judge's  dignity 
for  him  to  laugh  so  loud  and  she  hoped  that  he 
was  not  absorbing  bad  manners  from  associating 
with  Willy  Sweetser.  The  more  important  her 
son  grew  in  the  world,  the  more  she  was  inclined 
to  keep  him  in  hand. 

"  You're  bigger  than  ever,  Big,"  declared 
Ellen,  surveying  him.  "  I  believe  you  are  grow 
ing  again." 

"I'm  not!  I'm  not!  "  he  said,  in  an  assumed 
voice  of  stage  thunder.  This  was  a  sore  point 
with  him.  He  would  willingly  hear  anyone  but  her 
speak  of  his  size.  "  I  haven't  gained  a  pound  in 
six  months." 

"  Great  Heavens!  what  if  you  were  growing — 
think  what  if  you  were  secretly — all  unbeknown  to 
yourself!  '  She  drew  in  her  chin  and  knitted 
her  brows  dolefully.  *  '  How  'd  we  ever  know  then 
when  you  were  going  to  stop?  There's  only  one 
thing  to  do,  that's  to  measure." 

"  Ellen!  "  (from  Aunt  Julia). 

The  old  mark,  dim  but  distinguishable,  was 
found  under  the  later  growth  of  vines  and  she 
noted  that  when  he  put  his  back  against  the  pillar 
it  was  still  as  straight  as  the  pillar. 


MADAME  MOTHER  DECIDES 

"  No,  you  haven't  altitudinally, "  she  admitted. 
"  I  suppose  it's  longitudinally, "  she  added,  mis 
chievously. 

* '  Not  longitudinally,  either — not  a  bit !  "he  re 
turned.  "I'm  not  so  thundering  big!  No,  by 
the  thunders,  I'm  not!  " 

She  was  measuring  her  own  height,  now  six 
inches  less  than  his,  which  was  not  so  great  a  dif 
ference  between  a  man  and  a  woman,  as  he  re 
minded  her. 

"I'm  not  so  thundering  small  while  you  are 
thundering  about  it,  O  Mountain!  "  she  asserted. 
"I'll  be  thundered  if  I  am,  Mr.  Thunderer!  " 

6 l  Ellen,  it  seems  to  me  that  when  a  young  lady 
reaches  the  age  of  twenty- two  it's  time " 

' '  For  tea,  aunt.    Let  me  bring  it !  ' 

Aunt  Julia  shook  her  head. 

"  I  don't  know  about  this  higher  education  for 
girls.  What  do  you  think  she  did  yesterday!  She 
had  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hobber  over  to  tea  without  ask 
ing  us!  "  (Aunt  Julia  had  never  quite  approved 
of  Mrs.  Hobber,  though  in  later  years  she  took  a 
different  view.) 

The  Judge  made  no  comment  on  this  breach  of 
discipline.  He  changed  the  subject  with  some 
photographs  and  government  reports,  which  he 
took  out  of  his  dress-suit  case  and  laid  in  Madame 
Mother's  lap. 

"  All  about  that  island  of  Bar!  I  must  tele 
graph  my  answer  to-night. ' ' 

"  Yes,  Jimmy,  yes.  So  these  are  the  people  we 
are  to  civilize  out  of  hand?  "  she  asked,  taking  up 


THE  BIG  FELLOW 

an  envelope  containing  photographs  and  putting 
on  her  spectacles. 

"  My!  "  said  Aunt  Julia,  looking  over  her  sis 
ter's  shoulder  at  an  exhibit  marked  "  A  city  type 
of  the  Tongals,"  by  the  Anthropological  Sub 
division,  which  certainly  had  no  connection  with 
the  Textile  Subdivision.  "  My!  I  do  hope  you 
will  teach  them  enough  manners  to  tuck  their 
shirts  in !  ' 

' i  They  say  it  is  cooler  that  way, ' '  Big  explained 
discreetly. 

"  It  isn't  respectable  and  decent,  whatever  it 
is !  "  Aunt  Julia  averred. 

The  next  was  '  '   A  rural  type  of  the  Tongals. ' ' 

"Goodness  gracious!"  she  exclaimed.  "They've 
got  almost  no  clothes  on  at  all !  " 

The  next  was  "  A  mountain  type." 

"  For  Heaven's  sake!  Here's  a  lot  with  none! 
There  they  stand — an  whole  family — as  perfectly 
unashamed  of  it  as  a  cat  and  her  kittens!  " 
Then  Aunt  Julia  looked  the  other  way.  "  Ellen 
mustn't  see  this!  "  she  gasped. 

' i  Jimmy,  you  had  better  put  them  back  in  your 
case  and  then  burn  the  lot, ' '  Madame  Mother  said, 
turning  them  face  downward  without  further  in 
spection. 

"  I  hadn't  seen  them  myself,"  he  said,  obey 
ing.  "  Honestly,  I  hadn't  looked  inside  that  en 
velope  yet." 

"  Well,  I  hope,  Jimmy,"  Aunt  Julia  concluded, 
"  that  if  you  do  go  out  there  you  will  make  the 
government  send  at  least  one  pillow  case  apiece 


MADAME  MOTHER  DECIDES  215 

with  a  puckering-string  for  the  whole  population, 
and  I  hope  you'll  stop  the  United  States  being  a 
party  to  such  scandalous- 
There  she  dropped  the  subject,  as  Ellen  came 
with  the  tea-things.  The  Big  Fellow  wanted  to 
assist  in  passing  the  cups,  but  Ellen  sent  him  for  a 
chair  for  herself  instead.  Then  he  sat  down  on 
the  steps.  After  a  sip,  a  precise  sip,  Madame 
Mother  signified  by  her  manner  that  the  family 
was  about  to  go  into  straight-back-chair  executive 
session  without  waiting  to  light  the  lamp  with 
the  glass  standard.  Big  had  intended  to  have  his 
talk  with  her  after  he  had  spoken  with  Ellen;  and 
here  she  was  beginning  quite  as  she  had  when 
some  question  about  his  conduct  had  arisen  in  his 
boyhood. 

"  Now,  Jimmy,  as  I  understand  it,"  she  began, 
"  we  have  a  foundling  on  our  doorstep,  and  when 
we  decided  to  take  him  in  and  not  send  him  to  the 
foundling  home  we  made  ourselves  liable  to  duties 
which  we  cannot  neglect.  We  must  bring  these 
islanders  up  to  order  and  civilization  and  start 
them  right. ' ' 

"  Yes,  Madame  Mother,  precisely.  You  have 
put  a  big  thing  as  simply  as  you  would  a  little 
thing." 

"  It  is  a  long  way  for  you  to  go  away  from  us," 
she  continued,  "  a  very  long  way.  We  like  to 
have  you  near  home. ' ' 

"  Yes.  That's  the  hard  part  "—the  part  of 
separation  from  her,  Aunt  Julia,  Uncle  Theodore 
and  Willy,  and  from  Ellen,  whom  he  put  last  in- 


216  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

terrogatively,  as  if  the  weight  of  decision  rested 
with  her. 

"  Out  there  among  a  lot  of  savages  and  fever 
and  flies!  "  put  in  Aunt  Julia.  "  But  he's  your 
boy,  not  mine,  Martha, ' '  she  hastily  added,  to  clear 
her  conscience  of  any  charge  of  interference. 

Madame  Mother  heeded  neither  his  nor  Aunt 
Julia's  remark,  but  proceeded  along  her  own 
straight  line  of  catechism: 

"  Your  absence  we  must  not  consider  if  the 
change  is  for  the  best.  It  will  not  be  a  promotion 
for  you?  "  she  asked. 

"  No.  Hardly,  when  I  have  twelve  years  to 
serve!  No,  all  my  friends — everybody — consider 
it  the  contrary. " 

"  You  did  not  ask  to  go?  This  offer  came  en 
tirely  unsought?  " 

"  Entirely!  r  the  witness  on  the  stand 
answered. 

'  '  The  office  does  seek  the  man  and  the  President 
finds  it  hard  to  get  good  men  ?  ' ' 

"  Well,  yes,  I'm  afraid  few  nurses  who  can 
make  a  living  at  home  are  applying  for  the 
foundling.  Everyone  is  saying  what  a  noble  thing 
it  is  to  go  and  doing  his  part  by  urging  the  other 
fellows  on !  ' 

Was  the  mother  of  the  Gracchi  as  dramatic  as 
the  poets  make  her?  Or  was  she  soft-spoken  and 
firm?  Did  the  Spartan  woman  shout  from  the 
doorway  for  the  street  to  hear  her  parting  mes 
sage  bidding  her  son  to  come  home  with  his  shield 
or  on  it?  Or  did  she  say  it  quietly  to  him  alone? 


MADAME  MOTHER  DECIDES  217 

In  both  instances  we  must  accept  the  history  of  re 
mote  hearsay.  Madame  Mother,  we  know,  gave 
her  head  only  a  slight  nod  of  finality. 

"  When  you  have  not  asked/7  she  said,  "  and 
the  President  of  the  United  States  asks  you  be 
cause  he  thinks  that  you  can  best  do  this  work  for 
your  country,  I  don't  see  how  you  can  refuse.  It 
is  your  duty  to  go." 

Duty !  Duty  to  any  task  that  came  to  him  was 
the  sum  of  his  character,  and  love  of  work  and 
optimism  the  sum  of  his  strength.  Madame 
Mother  had  struck  home  to  his  conscience!  She 
had  made  him  see  the  situation  in  its  true  light,  as 
he  was  bound  to  see  it  eventually.  Now  he  knew 
that  from  the  moment  the  call  had  come,  all  the 
elements  in  his  nature  were  gathering  to  send  him 
on  this  mission  to  bring  into  being  the  dreams  of 
a  senior  classman's  essay. 

Why  had  he  hesitated?  Because  of  Ellen,  he 
knew.  Her  approval  and  her  advice  he  wanted. 
But  she  was  also  one  to  stand  for  duty,  if  not  in 
the  grey  that  is  supposed  to  be  duty's  favorite 
color,  yet  none  the  less  steadfastly  in  brighter 
and  warmer  tones.  To  Madame  Mother  he  made 
no  answer  except  the  silence  which  she  accepted 
as  assent  to  her  dictum. 

"  The  Governor  will  have  another  cup,  I  think, 
Ellen,"  she  added,  quite  settling  the  matter, 
there  on  the  front  porch  in  Bolton,  as  to  the  gov 
ernorship  of  Bar,  ten  thousand  miles  away. 

Ellen,  in  the  background  unobserved,  without 
touching  her  lips  to  her  tea,  had  listened  in  a 


218  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

tempest  of  feeling.  Not  once  had  he  asked  her 
opinion  about  the  greatest  thing  in  life!  Y,Thy 
should  she  expect  it?  Of  what  value  was  the  ad 
vice  of  one  who  had  been  nearer  the  foot  than  the 
middle  of  her  class?  Oh,  that  French  and  Irish 
blood!  It  is  warm,  quick,  sensitive,  proud.  She 
labeled  a  certain  bargain  as  dead.  In  swift  imag 
ination,  as  she  sat  so  still,  watching  Big  look  up 
to  his  mother,  she  built  a  new,  practical  world  for 
Miss  Ellen  Moore,  free  from  any  of  the  illusions 
of  a  fool's  paradise.  All  this  she  could  do — did 
she  not  write  the  senior  play  and  take  a  leading 
part? — with  no  outward  expression  except  a 
strange  brightness  of  the  eyes,  which  the  long 
lashes  hid,  and  the  slightest  tremble  of  the  lip  for 
a  second,  as  she  poured  for  the  great  man  who  did 
not  consult  grown-up  schoolgirls  whom  he  had 
sent  to  college. 

"  Four  lumps  for  the  Governor!  We'll  pro 
mote  him  from  three!  "  she  said.  "  And  we  all 
drink  to  the  Governor,"  she  added,  after  she 
passed  him  his  cup  and  raised  hers  on  high.  "  To 
the  Governor!  To  the  Governor!  " 

i '  To  the  Governor !  ' '  said  Madame  Mother  and 
Aunt  Julia,  in  a  mild  chorus. 

"  Pam  has  yet  to  hear  the  news.    He  must  be 
formally  introduced  to  our  nabob.    I'll  find  him !  ' 
Ellen  announced,  a  little  wildly. 

It  was  an  excuse,  this  run  about  the  house  and 
yard  after  Pam,  to  still  an  unaccountable  beating 
of  her  heart.  In  her  lively  wake  across  the  lawn 
Pam  came  shuffling  in  protest  against  being  "  led 


MADAME  MOTHER  DECIDES  219 

a  lamb  to  de  slaughter  o'  mo'  nonsense  o'  yose, 
Miss  Ellen. " 

"  Do  you  observe?  It's  like  an  opera,  truly," 
said  she,  pointing  her  finger  at  the  Big  Fellow  on 
the  steps.  "  Do  you  observe,  Pam,  that  this  is  the 
Governor  of  Bar,  a  real,  true  potentate!  " 

"  Fo'  de  Lawd's  sake!  "  said  Pam. 

"  He's  going  to  rule  the  natives  and  the  jungle., 
the  Mohammedans  and  the  heathen,  and  dress  all 
in  gorgeous  costumes  and  sit  on  a  gold  throne 
chair  in  the  midst  of  a  gorgeous  court  and  shout 
'  Off  with  their  heads  '  when  conversation  runs 
low." 

"  Fo'  de  Lawd's  sake!  "  With  that  Pam  shuf 
fled  away  out  of  the  domain  of  controversy. 

"  I've  got  some  striped  silk.  I'll  make  you  a 
turban.  Will  you  wear  it,  0  Mogul?  "  Ellen 
asked. 

"  I  do  wish  you  would  take  things  more  serious 
ly,  Ellen  "  (from  Aunt  Julia). 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  can  be  serious — very  serious,  Aunt 
Julia,"  Ellen  answered,  in  a  changed  tone. 

"  Will  I  wear  it!  "  cried  Big,  who  sprang  to  his 
feet,  beaming.  "  Yes,  over  the  hills  with  you. 
Will  you  come  for  a  walk?  " 

She  was  in  a  mood  to  which  any  suggestion  of 
activity  would  appeal. 

' '  Done !  I  want  to  walk,  too — and  fast !  I  hope 
you  can  keep  up  with  me,  Your  Excellency,  the 
Governor. ' ' 

He  was  already  on  his  feet,  in  ecstasy,  and 
standing  in  the  doorway  as  she  took  her  simple 


220  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

stiff-brimmed  straw  hat  down  from  the  rack.  In 
masculine  awe  he  watched  her  slim  fingers  slip  the 
long  pins  home,  while  he  was  thinking  that  now  he 
was  going  to  hear  all  that  she  thought  of  Bar  and 
he  was  to  do  some  brave  talking  himself  if  he 
could  only  find  a  way  to  begin.  But  he  reckoned 
wholly  without  his  host.  The  builder  of  a  new 
world  to  take  the  place  of  a  fool's  paradise  set 
him  a  pace  over  the  fields,  dry  for  the  want  of 
rain. 

Avoiding  Bar  entirely  in  a  tyrannous  stream  of 
chat  that  gave  him  no  opening,  she  told  of  the 
school  and  the  East,  in  good  humor,  mimicking 
people  and  their  traits.  In  butterfly  mood,  which 
may  be  a  brittle  mood,  she  chased  butterflies.  She 
wagered  him  that  the  Honorable  Court,  who 
might  find  a  flaw  in  a  law  by  lamplight,  could  not 
by  daylight  catch  a  gentleman  in  yellow  and  black 
stripes,  and  the  Honorable  Court  proved  himself 
a  strategist  who,  after  many  dashes,  announced 
his  victory  with  a  ringing  shout  of  triumph.  With 
the  tips  of  the  wings  between  his  fingers,  dust- 
sprinkled,  robbing  the  captive  of  some  of  the  tin 
sel  powder  of  glory,  he  released  the  gentleman  in 
yellow  and  black  stripes  under  her  chin. 

"  You  said  I  was  big,"  he  told  her,  rejoicing  in 
the  spirit  of  play  and  of  muscles  unbound,  i  l  but  I 
can  outrun  you,  and  give  you  a  good  start,  too." 

Anything  to  prove  that  he  was  not  big!  If 
mechanical  science  had  invented  a  lathe  which 
would  prune  a  human  being's  size  he  would  have 
been  one  of  the  first  patients. 


MADAME  MOTHER  DECIDES 

They  ran  fifty  yards  and  the  Honorable  Court 
won.  The  fault  was  in  a  woman's  skirts,  she  ex 
plained  ;  and  she  bade  him  help  her  over  a  fence  to 
another  stretch  of  pasture  land,  never  mentioning, 
in  the  renewed  vivacity  of  her  small-talk,  his 
island  or  his  journey. 

How  unlike  her  it  was!  How  out  of  keeping 
with  the  bargain!  What  change  had  come  over 
her  in  the  last  year!  He  counted  no  loss  of 
charm.  On  the  contrary,  her  charm  had  matured. 
The  change  was  toward  him ! 

Now  he  might  have  said:  "  What  is  it,  Ellen? 
Don't  you  take  any  interest  in  Bar!  "  Which 
would  have  been  like  the  real  Big.  What  then 
would  have  been  her  answer !  But  he  was  not  the 
real  Big.  He  was  a  man  trying  to  find  himself  in 
a  new  gallery,  preoccupied,  groping,  conscious. 
Her  new  manner  made  him  unnatural,  distrustful 
of  himself.  With  his  heart  full  of  the  subject 
which  had  brought  him  in  a  glad,  half -defined  hope 
out  of  the  house,  when  there  did  come  a  chance  to 
mention  it,  he  asked  all  but  casually : 

"  What  do  you  think  of  the  idea  of  my  going!  ' 

She  answered  distantly,  irrelevantly,  as  if  he 
were  speaking  of  things  with  which  she  was  un 
familiar. 

"  I  should  think  you  ought  to  go,  Big,  but  how 
am  I  to  know!  "  she  said. 

How  was  she,  indeed!  Only  last  night,  with 
the  window  open  and  watching  the  fireflies,  she 
had  known  all  about  it,  she  thought.  Then  had 
she  told  herself  that  being  a  judge  was  a  stuffy 


222  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

kind  of  thing  beside  this  new  task  whose  needs  she 
succinctly  expressed  as  requiring  a  man — a  big 
man. 

The  picturesqueness  of  the  mission,  the  mys 
tery  of  elements  unknown,  the  pull  of  problems 
unsolved  to  one  who  is  strong,  all  appealed  to  her 
as  fit  for  him.  Without  Madame  Mother's 
catechism,  with  Madame  Mother's  fine  ideals  no 
more  than  a  quick  instinct,  without  rehearsing  any 
part  beforehand,  she  was  going  to  tell  him  to  go ! 
go!  go! — it  was  a  splendid  thing — go!  Why  ask 
her  now,  when  he  had  decided?  Why,  when  he  had 
his  armor  on,  his  banner  raised,  when  she  had 
not  even  fastened  a  buckle — why  ask  her  what  she 
thought  of  his  crusade  ? 

But  she  did  not  let  the  conversation  flag  and 
spanned  a  possible  awkward  pause  when  he  was 
thinking  what  to  say. 

"  The  bronze  Buddhas  all  have  jewels  of  wis 
dom  in  their  foreheads,"  she  went  on.  "  You  are 
to  be  the  jewel  of  wisdom  to  these  people.  How 
strange  it  is !  To  you  it  must  be  like  sealing  your 
career  in  a  jar  and  taking  it  far  across  the  ocean, 
there  to  release  it  without  knowing  in  what  form 
of  genii  it  will  arise." 

"  Yes.    I — I — it  will  be  a  good  work." 

"  A  good  work!  ' 

They  were  ascending  the  easy  slope  of  a  high 
hill,  which  had  a  local  name  from  the  single  large 
tree  that  stood  sentinel  of  a  broad  pasture  at  the 
crest.  She  paused  and  looked  eastward  in  the 
direction  of  Stottstown  where,  on  another  hill, 


MADAME  MOTHER  DECIDES 

stood  a  house  of  many  gables  at  the  end  of  a 
graded  road  which  ran  among  young  trees  and 
past  an  artificial  lake. 

"  Look,  Big!  You  can  see  the  Walkers'  place 
from  here — a  thousand  acres,  and  the  Colonel 
whinnying  in  his  funny  way  because  he  hasn't 
enough,  I  suppose.  I  had  a  note  from  Ned.  He's 
to  be  back  in  a  few  days,  and  he's  bringing  his 
new  machine.  He  takes  it  with  him  wherever  he 
goes,  as  most  people  do  a  traveling  bag.  I  think 
he  will  have  a  stiff  time  of  it  with  these  roads. 
Ned's  really  a  very  nice  fellow,  Big." 

"  Of  course,  he  is!  At  least,  I've  always  liked 
him,"  he  told  her,  honestly. 

"  So  have  I!  "  she  rejoined.  "  He  thinks  his 
father  has  money  enough,  I  fancy,  and  would 
rather  enjoy  what  they  have  than  try  to  make 
more,"  and  she  set  the  pace  up  the  hill  again. 

What  more  had  either  to  say  about  Bar?  That 
subject  past  rather  than  in  anticipation,  she 
was  silent,  except  for  an  occasional  rally.  His 
thoughts,  which  now  separated  Bar  from  her 
future,  ventured : 

"  Do  you  find  this  little  village  restricted  and 
life  in  the  old  house  not  what  it  was,  youth  and  age 
not  mating1?  " 

Her  sense  of  loyalty  would  allow  no  one  of  the 
annoying  restraints  a  voice, 

"I'm  afraid  I'm  a  scatterbrain,"  she  answered. 
"I'm  afraid  I  find  the  joy  of  living  too  great  apd 
there's  the  unexplained  for  me  as  there  is  for 
everybody.  I  like  movement.  And,  Big,  I  ough* 


224.  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

to  be  doing  something.  I  will!  I  will  teach.  I'll 
get  over  this  joy  of  living  as  soon  as  the  summer 
is  over.  Watch  me  suddenly  turn  a  diligent  ant 
one  day." 

He  was  about  to  protest  that  she  was  approach 
ing  a  forbidden  subject.  But  it  occurred  to  him 
that  this  new  side  of  her  character,  which  he 
thought  had  been  revealed  to  him  that  afternoon, 
made  the  idea  that  she  would  seek  to  earn  a  live 
lihood  out  of  the  question. 

"  This  is  the  butterfly  season, "  he  answered, 
with  a  try  at  gayety. 

No,  she  would  never  try  to  pay  back  that  debt. 
Through  his  cloud  shot  the  happiness  of  still  be 
ing  able  to  care  for  her  while,  joyously,  as  a  girl 
should,  she  would  drift  on  to  some  event  that 
would  change  her  life.  And  this  set  him  thinking 
of  Ned  Walker  and  into  paths  he  little  knew. 

They  had  not  noticed  the  darkening  sky  except 
with  a  passing  remark  that  the  sun  was  hidden. 
A  peal  of  thunder  warned  them  of  the  shower 
from  which  they  sought  refuge  under  the  big  tree 
now  only  a  few  rods  away.  The  bolts  of  lightning 
out  of  the  purple  roof,  shooting  in  zigzag  shafts  of 
obliqueness  into  the  blackening  green  of  the  pas 
ture,  made  him  say : 

* '  It  is  magnificent !  ' ' 

"  Yes."  She  was  looking  straight  away  from 
him  vacantly,  a  figure  appreciably  beautiful  to  any 
eyes  in  her  obsession  with  the  storm's  glory. 

"  I  don't  think  this  is  a  good  place  for  us,"  he 
was  suddenly  reminded.  "  I  see  that  this  tree 


MADAME  MOTHER  DECIDES  225 

has  already  been  struck."  He  took  her  arm  to 
lead  her  away. 

'  *  Twice,  if  I  remember, ' '  she  returned,  absently, 
without  moving. 

"  That's  the  more  reason.  You  better  run  the 
risk  of  getting  wet.  It's  the  only  tree  out  here  in 
the  open.  Come!  ' 

*  *  Oh,  no !    You  know  the  saying  that  lightning 
never  strikes  twice  in  the  same  place,"  she  said, 
with  a  revival  of  her  practical  side.     "  If  it's 
struck  twice  it  will  surely  not  strike  a  third  time. ' ' 

The  logic  of  women  is  sometimes  hard  for  the 
judiciary  to  understand. 

"  But  this  is  a  heavy  storm !  "  he  insisted. 

11  Yes." 

"  It's  what  you  call  splintery." 

"  Yes,  splintery — yes  "  (absently).  "  Oh  "  (as 
she  came  back  to  earth),  "  you  mean  the  lightning 
is!  Of  course  "  (rousing  herself).  "  It  will  not 
last  long.  These  storms  soon  pass  over  the 
valley." 

After  the  last  spatter  of  drops,  as  the  clouds 
in  billowy  majesty  went  rolling  over  the  hills, 
flashing  the  moist  green  back  to  fresh  brightness 
and  making  the  windows  of  the  houses  in  the  vil 
lage  blaze,  she  cried: 

"  We  must  hurry.  Now  we'll  forget  the  butter 
flies  and  be  diligent  ants." 

Her  lithe  stride  knew  the  slopes  well.  In  the 
descent  she  was  to  show  that  she  was  as  good  at 
silence  as  at  chatter. 

*  '  One  can 't  talk  when  one  is  walking  fast, ' '  she 


226  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

half  apologized.  "  You'll  be  going  soon?  "  she 
asked  at  length,  as  they  neared  the  house. 

"  To  Washington  early  in  the  morning  for  in 
structions;  then  to  close  up  all  my  affairs  in  the 
city;  then  for  a  real  holiday  at  home." 

To  this  she  made  no  answer  until  he  held  the 
gate  ajar  for  her  to  enter  the  yard. 

"  Stay  as  long  as  you  can  when  you  do  come 
back,"  she  said  gently,  looking  directly  into  his 
eyes  for  the  first  time  since  they  had  left  the  tree. 
"  Madame  Mother  is  old  and  you  are  going  on  a 
very  long  journey." 


XXII 

COLONEL  WALKER  HAED  PRESSED 


among  them  savages!    Of  all  things! 
Him!  " 

Without  any  variation  of  expression 
Mrs.  Billings  said  this  at  breakfast ;  she  said  it  as 
she  was  dusting  the  rooms,  and  probably  over  the 
dishes. 

"  If  you  think  your  own  melancholy  is  any 
solace  for  mine,"  Uncle  Theodore  told  her,  some 
what  testily,  "  you  are  mistaken." 

"I'm  not  seeing  it  that  way,  Mister  Books,  con 
sidering  your  melancholy's  your  own  business  and 
mine  is  mine !  ' '  she  snapped.  ' '  And  I  don't  know 
as  it  will  look  just  right  in  the  eyes  of  folks  for  me 
to  stay  here  as  housekeeper  after  he's  gone." 

6  i  Oh !  He  was  the  chaperon,  was  he  ?  '  Uncle 
Theodore  laughed  and  got  a  little  cheer  out  of  this 
quaint  notion,  anyway. 

"  The  what?  I've  known  him  a  good  deal 
longer 'n  I  have  you,  and  whatever  scrape  those 
savages  get  him  into  you're  more  to  blame  than 
anyone  else.  I  always  knew  something  foolish 
would  happen  to  him  if  he  had  all  the  law  non 
sense  he  wanted.  It 's  like  letting  children  have  all 
the  sweets  they  want.  I  saw  that  back  at  college 
and  warned  him,  too" — and  to  prevent  any  ques- 

227 


228  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

tioning  of  the  oracle  she  slammed  the  door  behind 
her. 

This  dialogue  took  place  the  morning  after  his 
patron  had  a  wire  from  the  Big  Fellow  telling  of 
his  decision. 

"  He  is  right.  He  is  the  man  for  the  work," 
said  Uncle  Theodore  to  himself.  "  But  the 
thought  will  not  make  me  any  the  less  lonesome 
when  he  is  gone,"  he  added,  dismally.  "  Nor 
have  I  any  reason,"  he  concluded,  after  a  turn 
around  the  room,  "  for  asking  him  to  carry  my 
burdens.  Mrs.  Billings  is  right.  One's  melan 
choly  is  one's  own  business.  He  shall  have  a  wel 
come  back  worthy  of  his  honors." 

Of  the  two,  after  Big's  arrival  Uncle  Theodore 
was  the  more  cheerful.  Patron  had  never  seen 
disciple  in  such  a  mood  before.  Big  was  blue.  He 
was  hard  hit.  He  was  a  man  in  love  trying  to  find 
himself,  after  Ellen's  action  had  fully  awakened 
him  to  the  depth  and  distinctness  of  the  thing  in 
his  heart.  All  the  way  on  the  train  he  had  been 
thrashing  over  their  talk  on  the  walk.  No  word 
or  look  of  hers  was  forgotten.  He  was  big  and  old 
and  a  judge  and  she  was  young  and  blithe.  He 
ought  to  drive  out  of  his  mind  this  thing  which 
refused  to  be  driven. 

"  The  '88 's  and  the  '48  must  dine  together  at 
Jerry's,"  said  Uncle  Theodore,  "  and  not  a  sad 
thought  will  I  allow  to  be  spoken. ' ' 

"  Good!  I  have  my  friends — always  my  true, 
firm  friends,"  spoke  that  unaccountable  mood  of 
Big's. 


COLONEL  WALKER  HARD  PRESSED      229 

He  telephoned  at  once  to  Willy  and  heard  in 
answer,  "  Mr.  Sweetser's  busy,"  and  found  him 
self  talking  to  a  dead  wire. 

"  But  that  was  his  own  voice!  I'll  see  about 
this!  " 

He  started  for  The  Sentinel  office  immediately. 
In  the  lobby  of  the  editorial  rooms  the  office  boy 
interrupted  his  progress. 

"  Your  card,  sir." 

4 '  Why,  Tommy,  you  know  me !  What  does  this 
fooling  mean?  " 

But  the  office  boy  was  obdurate.  He  obeyed  no 
orders  but  Willy's. 

"  Mr.  Sweetser  said  I  wasn't  to  admit  you  with 
out  it." 

"  You  take  him  the  name  of  Jim  Harden  and 
tell  him  if  he  doesn't  let  me  in  I'll  break  in; 
and  if  I  have  to  do  that,  so  much  the  worse  for 
him." 

The  boy  returned  to  say  that  the  Judge  might 
enter. 

"  Take  a  seat,  Governor!  "  Willy  called  with  a 
nod,  as  he  went  on  with  his  work,  answering  tele 
phone  rings  and  running  through  letters  and  copy, 
without  further  attention  to  his  guest.  Big  sat 
for  a  minute  enjoying  the  situation. 

"  Oh,  yes,  Governor — of  course,"  said  Willy 
reminiscently,  at  length.  He  pressed  a  button  for 
a  boy,  whom  he  sent  for  any  news  from  the 
Islands.  The  boy  returned  with  a  piece  of  flimsy, 
which  Willy  glanced  through. 

"  Four  white  soldiers  killed  chasing  worthless 


230  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

natives  in  a  worthless  jungle.  Four  soldiers 
killed  and  another  insurrectionist  plot  discov 
ered/'  he  remarked,  casually.  "  The  Associated 
Press  gives  it  a  hundred  words.  Four  white  sol 
diers  worth  a  whole  tropical  sea  peppered  with 
islands !  I  suppose  The  Sentinel  might  allow  it  a 
stick  for  the  soldiers7  sake!  It's  that  island  of 
Bar,  again,  too — the  worst  of  the  lot.  By  the  way, 
Bar  is  your  island,  isn't  it,  Governor?  I  can  re 
member  all  the  aldermen  in  town — but,  of  course, 
there  is  a  limit  to  the  details  one  can  keep  in 
mind." 

In  a  condescending  manner  he  passed  the  flimsy 
for  Big  to  read. 

"  Anything  else  The  Sentinel  can  do  for  you 
any  time,  let  me  know.  The  city  editor's  always 
glad  of  items,"  Willy  added,  picking  up  a  pencil 
as  if  concluding  the  interview.  "  And  if  I  can't 
see  you,  myself,  you'll  understand  I'm  very  busy." 

"  Yes,  there  is  something  else!  "  The  Big  Fel 
low  rose  threateningly.  "  Yes,  there  is  some 
thing,  and  I'm  going  to  do  it  for  you,  personally — 
throw  you  out  of  the  window !  "  he  said  in  a  big 
voice,  and  struck  his  fist  in  pantomimic  display  on 
the  desk. 

' '  Oh,  indeed !  ' '  Willy  poised  his  pencil.  ' '  Get 
ting  into  the  potentate  habit  already.  Well,  I've 
only  to  press  the  button  to  bring  in  the  police. 
That's  how  we  deal  with  potentates  in  these 
United  States." 

"  Nonsense!  You  can't  play  this  on  me!  "  the 
Big  Fellow  protested.  "  Now  to  come  down  to 


COLONEL  WALKER  HARD  PRESSED 

earth,  Willy.  Uncle  Theodore  and  you  and  I  will 
eat  to-night  at  Jerry's.  What  do  you  say?  We 
shan't  have  many  more  sessions  together." 

Willy  fixed  him  with  a  stare  of  social  superiority 
that  put  presumption  in  its  place  and  broke  into  a 
rapid  fire  of  talk: 

' '  You  deserter !  "  he  cried.  '  '  Who  got  me  into 
this  newspaper  business!  You!  Who  was  to 
stand  by  me  and  help?  You!  Do  you  suppose  I 
have  any  time  to  waste  on  convivial  habits,  now? 
I've  work  to  do  and  I  must  do  it  alone.  You're 
out  of  the  game — dismissed,  disowned!  Who's 
going  to  stop  me  from  running  away  with  the 
bait?  Who's  going  to  warn  me  when  I  get  too 
red-headed?  Myself,  you  rank  backslider,  just 
myself ! 

"  I've  got  to  begin  my  education  over  again. 
You'll  see  me  studying  law  nights  to  make  up  for 
my  folly  of  misplacing  confidence  in  a  quitter. 
I've  engaged  two  tutors.  Going  to  have  an  hour 
a  day  with  each  one.  Getting  a  chauffeur,  too,  so 
I  can  take  lessons  from  the  tutors  on  the  road.  I'm 
going  to  build  a  new  building  twelve  stories  high 
and  start  an  evening  edition.  Somebody's  got 
to  work,  I  tell  you.  That's  all!  I'm  done  with 
you  except  to  be  polite." 

Then  he  called  up  the  business  office  and  shouted 
through  the  speaking-tube : 

"  Have  a  box  of  chocolate  peppermints  sent 
once  a  week  to  His  Excellency,  James  Harden, 
Governor  of  the  Island  of  Bar,  etcetera,  etcetera. 
Get  it  all  in.  Don't  leave  out  the  etceteras. 


232  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

That's  the  real  title — etcetera!  And  mind! 
chocolate — the  Governor's  favorite  color." 

"  Oh,  come,  Willy!  Come!  come!  "  Big  was 
getting  flushed  and  embarrassed,  while  Willy 
picked  up  his  hat  from  his  desk,  where  he  usually 
laid  it  when  he  came  in  full  of  business. 

"  Well,  pleasant  journey,  Governor.  You  can 
look  over  the  back  files  for  any  Island  news,  if 
you  want.  Unless  an  unusual  number  of  white 
men  that  ought  to  be  at  home  building  up  the 
United  States  are  massacred,  you'll  find  it  all  in 
the  back  pages,  in  agate.  We  like  an  interview 
with  an  alderman,  but  to  save  you  postage  let 
me  say  that  we  don't  print  heathen  Governors' 
proclamations,  however  beautiful  and  legal  they 
are.  Mornin'!  You'll  excuse  me — I've  an  en 
gagement.  I  'm  a  busy  man !  ' 

With  this  parting  shot  from  the  doorway  Willy 
left  the  Big  Fellow  alone,  beaten  and  wondering. 

The  Sentinel's  manner  of  announcing  the 
Judge's  resignation  kept  perfect  faith  with 
Willy's  views.  The  Judge's  career  was  narrated 
at  length  and  highly  praised.  All  that  saved  the 
account  from  being  an  obituary  was  the  announce 
ment,  with  no  reference  to  his  future  work,  that 
his  address  hereafter  would  be  the  island  of  Bar. 

This  was  a  miserable  period  for  the  Big  Fellow. 
He  laughed  his  way  through  the  packing  of  his 
books,  through  closing  up  his  affairs  for  depar 
ture,  while  he  kept  thinking  that  he  was  yet  to  see 
Ellen,  yet  to  have  days  with  her  at  home,  before 
he  started  on  his  long  journey  across  the  Pacific. 


COLONEL  WALKER  HARD  PRESSED      233 

He  heard  of  Willy  at  work  with  his  tutors, 
dashing  about  in  his  automobile,  planning  his  new 
Sentinel  building,  buying  books  in  quantities ;  then 
one  afternoon  with  a  message  over  the  telephone 
the  face  of  the  world  changed  for  The  Hummer. 
For  all  the  waters  of  the  gossip  of  a  city  passed 
through  Willy's  sieve  which  caught  news  for  The 
Sentinel.  Anything  political  concerning  any 
prominent  men  once  whispered  from  Washington 
was  bound  to  come  to  him. 

"  What!  "  he  sang  back.  "  What!  It  was  on 
Colonel  Walker 's  advice  ?  To  get  him  out  of  the 
State  ?  Thanks !  You  Ve  done  me  the  biggest  kind 
of  a  real  favor !  ' ' 

He  sent  for  his  car  and  sought  Big,  who  was  in 
his  rooms,  and  to  whom  the  news  was  a  thunder 
clap.  First,  he  asked  Willy  quietly  whence  it 
came.  The  source  seemed  to  satisfy  him. 

"  I'll  go  to  Colonel  Walker  at  once,"  he  said. 
"  I '11  find  out  about  this." 

So  he  was  not  fulfilling  the  demand  of  duty ;  so 
he  was  not  answering  an  uninviting  call  to  work 
because  the  highest  authority  in  the  land  had 
thought  that  he  was  specially  fitted  for  it.  The 
calm,  kind  eyes  which  never  laughed  were  frosty. 
He  was  quivering  with  controlled  rage  over  hav 
ing  been  a  witless  pawn  in  a  game  to  defeat  the 
ends  of  justice. 

On  their  way  across  the  city  Willy  simply 
babbled.  Why  should  he  study  law  now?  He 
would  discharge  his  tutors.  A  hundred  plans  of 
new  conquests  in  as  many  different  ways — all 


THE  BIG  FELLOW 

Sweetserian  ways — he  made  as  they  spun  through 
the  streets. 

' i  I'll  keep  you,  Big!  The  chocolate  drops 
won 't  get  you !  I  '11  keep  you !  ' ' 

The  Big  Fellow  did  not  answer ;  for  that  matter, 
he  did  not  speak  once  during  the  ride.  Willy 
thought  of  him  as  a  rumbling  volcano  about  to 
erupt.  Inwardly,  his  curiosity  was  high  pitched. 
He  would  not  have  missed  this  meeting  between 
the  two  men  for  ten  thousand  additional  circula 
tion.  When  they  stepped  out  of  the  elevator, 
waiting  on  no  formality,  the  Big  Fellow  plowed 
past  the  clerical  keeper  of  the  drawbridge  in  the 
outer  room,  whose  "  Who  do  you  wish  to  see, 
sir?  "  was  answered  by  a  grim  "  Colonel  Walker, 
at  once ;  ' '  and  on  he  went,  his  coat  tails  brushing 
papers  off  the  desk,  straight  into  the  Colonel's 
private  office. 

The  Colonel  was  most  palpably  delighted  to  see 
him. 

"  Well,  Judge,  or  Governor,  I  suppose  I  should 
call  you  now  " — and  that  was  as  far  as  he  went 
with  his  amiable  greeting,  which  was  cut  short  by 
the  aspect  of  that  Olympian  figure,  devoid  of 
either  the  smile  or  the  laugh. 

"  I  want  to  know,"  demanded  the  Governor, 
his  voice  unusually  low,  "  if  it  was  on  your  ad 
vice  that  the  President  sent  for  me." 

If  it  had  been  John  Byng  in  his  place,  as  the 
Colonel  thought  afterward,  Byng  would  have  lied 
directly — "  jes'  as  easy,  jes'  as  easy,"  to  borrow 
a  phrase  from  Pam — and  said  that  he  had  never 


COLONEL  WALKER  HARD  PRESSED      235 

heard  a  thing  about  this  fool  gossip;  some  news 
paper  yarn,  probably. 

"  Well,  I  did  tell  him  that  I  couldn't  imagine 
a  better  man !  ' '  the  Colonel  admitted. 

"  To  get  me  out  of  the  State?  " 

"  Well,  I  didn't  mention  that — no,  sir,  Gov 
ernor!  " 

"  You  may  have  me  in  this  State  a  long  time," 
Big  answered,  "  and  not  being  a  judge  now  I'll 
be  busier.  It  all  depends  on  what  the  President 
says. ' ' 

He  took  up  the  telephone  from  the  Colonel's 
desk  and  called  for  the  White  House. 

' '  Say  that  former  Judge  Harden  asks  to  speak 
to  the  President  at  once  on  a  matter  of  pressing 
importance. ' ' 

For  the  privilege  of  a  few  words  in  the  Presi 
dent's  ear  before  the  Big  Fellow  spoke  with  him, 
Colonel  Walker  would  have  given  a  large  block 
of  stock.  After  he  had  won  the  trench  he  hated 
the  prospect  of  being  thrown  out;  and  for  some 
reason  that  he  did  not  explain  to  himself,  he  would 
rather  be  beaten  by  any  man  in  the  world  than  Jim 
Harden.  But  his  cheerfulness  masked  his  feel 
ings  in  the  interval  while  they  waited  for  the 
answer  from  Washington. 

"  Ne-eh!  Have  a  chair,  Governor.  Have  a 
chair,  Sweetser,"  for  neither  had  yet  seated  him 
self.  "  Don't  know  as  I  remember  ever  seeing 
you  here  before,  Governor.  Some  mischief  up 
when  you  two  come  together.  Expect  you'll  find, 
Governor,  that  the  President  asked  a  good  many 


236  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

men  about  you.     He's  a  great  hand  for  looking 
around.     Not  wanting  a  pass,  eh,  Sweetser?  ' 
and  the  Colonel  chuckled  over  his  joke. 

11  No!     Issuing  many  to  The  Courier  now?  ' 
came  back  the  reportorial  question. 

Willy  had  about  broken  up  the  pass  business 
in  that  city.  His  reporters  paid  their  way  and 
fhe  railroad  paid  for  its  advertising. 

"  Ne-eh!  Sweetser,  I  congratulate  you,"  said 
the  Colonel,  in  his  most  affable  manner.  "  You 
deserve  credit  for  that  reform.  It's  just  another 
case  of  business  is  business.  I  gave  orders  about 
two  months  ago  to  shut  off  The  Courier.  They 
yapped  and  threatened,  but  we  ain't  afraid  of  old 
Byng  any  more.  The  Gold  Pig  has  to  root  a  little 
harder,  eh?  "  and  the  Colonel  laughed  quite  heart 
ily  for  him. 

The  bell  tinkled  and  the  Governor  heard  the 
mellow  voice  of  the  President.  In  a  strong,  un 
yielding  tone  the  question  went  over  the  long 
distance : 

"  Mr.  President,  did  you  appoint  me  to  Bar  be 
cause  Colonel  Walker  recommended  me?  It  is 
vital  that  I  should  know." 

"  No,  Governor,  that  is  not  true,"  came  the 
answer.  "  He  did  call  my  attention  to  you,  for 
what  reason  I  do  not  know,  nor  is  it  to  any  pur 
pose.  I  inquired  about  you  from  many  sources.  I 
had  heard  you  speak  and  I  talked  with  you  before 
I  made  the  definite  offer.  You  were  chosen  be 
cause  I  concluded  that  you  had  the  qualities  which, 
so  far  as  I  can  judge  its  needs,  preeminently  fit 


COLONEL  WALKER  HARD  PRESSED      237 

you  for  the  task.  Colonel  Y\^alker  is  a  great  rr.il- 
road  organizer,  but  in  the  choice  of  a  governor 
for  an  island  I  do  not  accept  his  opinion. ' ' 

' '  Thank  you,  Mr.  President.  I  will  go.  But  I 
wouldn't  if  he  had  been  responsible  for  my  ap 
pointment.  ' ' 

' '  I  know  you  would  not,  and  this  is  one  of  the 
qualities  in  you  to  which  I  referred.  I,  myself, 
want  you  to  go. ' ' 

"  I  will,  Mr.  President. " 

Colonel  Walker  gave  Willy  one  triumphant, 
meaning  glance  and  begged  them  not  to  hurry 
away. 

"  Our  relations  revert,"  said  Willy  to  Big,  as 
they  passed  into  the  street.  "  You'll  get  your 
chocolate  drops  regularly  every  week,  Excel 
lency.  ' ' 

"  Stop  such  nonsense !    I  won't  have  it !  ' 

In  a  bearish  hug,  Jim  Harden,  the  big  fellow, 
threw  his  arms  around  Willy,  the  little  fellow, 
mindless  of  the  attention  they  attracted,  and  shook 
him  good-naturedly. 

"  Willy,  you're  my  best  friend!  "  he  said. 
"  You  really  don't  think  I'm  a  quitter!  " 

"  Yep!  '  Willy  answered.  "  Squeeze  me  to 
death  but  you  are !  ' ' 

The  Big  Fellow  released  him. 

"  Come  on,  Excellency.  I'm  a  busy  man.  Tak 
ing  two  lessons  to-day.  Jump  in!  Let  me  drive 
you  back  to  your  rooms." 

"  I'll  walk,"  the  Big  Fellow  said,  disconsolately 
and  out  of  temper. 


238  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  Deserter  and  quitter!  "  Willy  called,  as  he 
speeded  away.  "  You're  a  stuffed  Olympus  with 
the  sawdust  running  out.  That's  what  you  are !  r 

Willy  was  an  individualist  and  full  of  char 
acter,  as  Uncle  Theodore  said;  and  as  Big  was 
leaving  the  city  the  next  day,  this  might  be  the 
farewell  of  his  dearest  friend. 


XXIII 

A   BIG,    SIMPLE    MAN    IN    LOVE 

WREN  a  big,  simple  man  with  the  boyish 
heart  of  sixteen  and  some  of  the  wisdom 
of  sixty  falls  in  love,  the  abounding  im 
pulse  and  faith  of  sixteen  urging  him  on  and  the 
wisdom  of  sixty  bidding  him  pause  and  consider, 
neither  "  Araminta's  Hope  "  nor  the  thousand 
books  will  help  him.  He  must  make  a  law  for 
himself. 

The  Big  Fellow  hastened  to  finish  his  business 
in  the  city  and  in  Washington,  the  sooner  to  begin 
his  holiday.  It  pleased  him  not  to  name  the  day 
that  he  should  reach  Bolton.  He  would  appear 
before  the  family  as  a  surprise.  The  time  of  his 
going  should  depend  on  Ellen.  It  might  be  within 
two  days  or  two  weeks.  Yes,  two  weeks  would  be 
time  enough  to  make  his  happiness  complete,  he 
thought  in  a  moment  of  wild  hope. 

For  boyish  sixteen  was  having  its  way  and  fool 
ish  old  sixty  was  getting  its  just  deserts.  No 
graduate  girl  maturity  should  be  allowed  to  break 
that  bargain  he  had  made  with  a  two-braid  girl. 
He  would  laugh  her  out  of  any  such  idea.  She 
should  still  listen  to  his  secrets.  They  would  walk 


240  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

together  and  they  would  sit  together  in  the  moon 
light. 

He  would  tell  her  of  all  that  happened  in  Colonel 
Walker's  office,  which  it  would  never  do  to  tell 
Madame  Mother,  and  of  his  long  talk  with  the 
President,  and  the  cold,  legal,  Important  Member 
of  the  Cabinet;  of  how  the  President  had  said: 
"  It  may  not  seem  as  important  to  you  as  the 
bench,  but  it  means  that  you  may  bring  the  light 
and  the  law  to  an  whole  people.  We  are  sending 
school-teachers,  but  with  you  is  the  opportunity  to 
implant  a  greater  thing  in  the  minds  of  the 
natives. "  All  this  he  knew  she  would  understand, 
not  legally,  not  in  detail,  but  in  a  sympathy  which 
is  the  nerves  to  the  muscles  of  a  man's  strength 
when  he  undertakes  a  task  in  which  others  have 
failed. 

And  then?  No  quibble  could  stop  him.  There 
was  a  good  deal  of  Jim  Harden  to  fall  in  love  and 
it  had  all  fallen  in  completely.  How  he  should 
express  his  feelings  to  Ellen  no  longer  puzzled  him. 
The  words  would  come,  he  knew.  This  mighty 
thing  would  flow  out  of  his  heart  in  a  flood.  There 
would  be  no  stopping  it. 

If  she  would — if  she  would  go  with  him  to  the 
altar  of  the  little  church  in  Bolton!  "  It's  too 
good!  It's  too  good!  It  would  make  me  too 
proud!  I  believe  it  would  make  me  great!  "  he 
said  many  times  to  himself. 

"  Too  good!  '  He  spoke  it  once  aloud,  break 
ing  the  silence  of  their  rooms  and  making  Uncle 
Theodore  start.  Uncle  Theodore,  expert  in  youth- 


A  BIG,  SIMPLE  MAN  IN  LOVE 

ful  romance,  student  of  all  the  signs  of  smitten 
hearts,  concluded  that  this  exclamation  was  caused 
by  something  in  the  papers  which  his  disciple  was 
overlooking  before  finally  filing  them  away.  Was 
any  other  hypothesis  likely  from  a  bachelor  whose 
knowledge  of  the  ways  of  lovers  was  entirely  liter 
ary!  Had  the  afflicted  one  written  on  a  piece  of 
paper  "  and  he  (the  hero)  sighed  and  in  a  trans 
port,  "  etc.,  Uncle  Theodore  would  have  under 
stood  the  situation  at  once.  Oh,  the  thousand 
books  which  he  thought  he  knew  so  well ! 

If  she  would!  An  affirmative  gave  Big  wing- 
spread  possibilities  in  a  clear  sky.  It  made  him 
happy  to  be  out  of  the  judgeship,  which,  with  all 
his  attachment  to  the  bench,  in  some  way  fettered 
growing  qualities  in  his  mind.  The  prospect  of 
having  her  with  him  on  that  voyage  to  a  strange 
shore,  where  his  career  was  to  be  unbottled  in 
some  new  form  of  genii,  carried  him  over  many 
pleasant  streams  in  a  way  that  was  too  fast  or 
too  lingering  to  win  the  approval  of  a  judicial 
temperament.  And  did  he  think  she  would  con 
sent!  What  does  sixteen!  It  hopes.  It  goes  with 
heart  on  sleeve,  partisan  and  pleading. 

Out  of  the  car  window  on  his  homeward  trip  he 
saw  palm  trees  as  shadowing  backgrounds  for  an 
individual.  The  first  object  to  define  itself  pro 
nouncedly  in  that  Middle  Western  landscape  was 
the  big  tree  under  which  he  and  she  had  found 
shelter  from  the  storm.  Before  the  afternoon  was 
over  they  might  be  sitting  on  one  of  its  roots,  with 
no  splintered  lightning  to  interrupt  their  colloquy. 


THE  BIG  FELLOW 

He  did  a  thing  in  suggestive  contradiction  to  the 
day  when  he  came  from  college  a  self-borne 
caravan,  by  having  a  boy  carry  his  bag  from  the 
station.  Then,  with  a  new  attention  to  such  de 
tails,  he  looked  through  his  pockets  to  see  if  there 
were  any  bulging  contents  that  ought  to  be  re 
moved.  When  one  is  about  to  fly  he  wants  no  im 
pedimenta. 

His  bonhomie  had  an  aerial  abstraction  as  he 
greeted  passers-by  in  the  main  street.  Always  his 
steps  were  light.  Although  tall  and  sturdily  built, 
he  had  little  spare  flesh  and  he  carried  himself  in 
such  a  way  that  people  who  saw  him  for  the  first 
time  said:  "  What  a  cheery,  big  fellow!  "  and 
never, l  i  Isn't  he  enormous !  '  He  walked  rapidly, 
answering  the  call  of  sixteen  to  the  scene  of  play, 
smiling  at  all  the  world,  which  could  not  do  other 
wise,  if  it  were  polite,  than  smile  back  at  him.  Was 
not  he  saying :  ' '  What  a  fine  world  it  is !  ' '  all  the 
way  until  he  glanced  at  the  church  door  and  asked 
himself  another  question,  whose  answer  might 
make  it  a  most  dour  world,  indeed? 

No  one  was  in  sight  at  the  house  except  Epami- 
nanidad,  who  was  mowing  the  lawn. 

' '  Hello,  Pam !  Always  on  the  job,  aren't  you !  ' 
Big  called.  "  How 're  the  folks?  " 

Pam  dropped  the  lawn-mower  handle  abruptly, 
mumbling  "  Fo'  de  Lawd's  sake!  "  to  himself. 
He  did  not  make  any  other  answer  to  the  Big 
Fellow's  greeting  except  to  shake  his  head  in  a 
troubled  way  and  start  across  the  lawn. 

"  Surprised  you,  eh?  " 


A  BIG,  SIMPLE  MAN  IN  LOVE  243 

"  Yissah,  yo'  did,  yissah!  But  dat  am'  it — no, 
dat  ain'  it,"  and  his  voice  quavered.  "  No,  sah, 
dat  ain'  it,  an'  I  bettah  keep  my  mouf  shut,  kase 
it  ain'  fo'  me  to  say." 

"  What  is  the  matter?  What  makes  you  so 
glum!  Anyone  ill?  "  Big  asked,  with  a  sudden 
change  of  manner. 

Pam's  misery  was  interwoven  with  mystery. 

"  No,  sah.  Nobody's  ill.  Ev'ybody's  jes'  too 
lively  an'  spry.  Aunt  Julia,  she  was  dat  mad  she 
was  a-tearin'  up  an'  down  de  po'ch.  Ise  hopin' 
she's  ca'med  a  li'l  by  dis  time.  But  'tain'  fo'  me 
to  say,  no,  sah.  De  lawn  didn'  need  it  nohow,  but 
I  says  right  away  when  de  ructions  began,  I  says, 
Ise  gwine  to  mow  it  all  over  'gain  to-day  so's  to 
keep  my  min'  kerrected." 

* '  What  is  it!  What  is  it?  Stop  talking  around 
the  bush!  " 

"  'Tain'  fo'  me  to  say."  He  hesitated  as  he 
started  to  return  to  his  work.  "I'd  laugh  at  'em, 
I  would,"  he  whispered,  confidentially.  "  'Tain' 
so  easy,  'tain'  so  easy,  dough,  to  laugh  at  dem  two 
old  ladies,  when  dey  is  ridin'  high." 

Some  family  difference;  some  minor  accident; 
or,  possibly,  the  servant  had  given  notice,  the  Big 
Fellow  told  himself.  Whatever  it  was  he  would 
soon  make  it  right. 

Aunt  Julia  must  have  at  least  partially 
"  ca'med,"  for  she  was  seated  in  the  sitting-room 
with  Madame  Mother,  the  blinds  being  drawn  to 
shut  out  the  bright  afternoon  light.  Both  had 
their  work-baskets,  and  a  little  psychologic  per- 


244  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

ception  would  have  shown  that  they  were  in  the 
process  of  "  thinking  "  very  hard.  The  sound 
of  Jimmy's  step  prepared  them  for  his  entrance. 
In  their  distraction  they  greeted  him  simply  and 
less  effusively  than  usual.  "  Why,  Jimmy!  "  they 
both  exclaimed,  and  then  they  exchanged  glances. 

So  far  as  they  were  concerned,  his  plan  of  a 
surprise  was  not  a  brilliant  success.  But  that 
feature  scarcely  occurred  to  him.  He  was  ab 
sorbed  in  the  joy  of  his  return. 

"  Here  I  am,  home — home!  "  he  told  them. 
"  Consider  me  an  idler!  I've  nothing  to  do  except 
to  play  about  the  old  place;  nothing  to  do  but 
enjoy  looking  into  your  faces  and  drink  in  all  that 
home  means !  Pet  me,  spoil  me,  praise  me,  scold 
me,  make  me  stand  in  a  corner  if  I  steal  jam,  send 
me  to  bed  early,  make  me  split  wood,  mow  the 
lawn,  or  wash  dishes,  and  wake  me  early.  But  I'll 
have  a  sick  headache — oh,  awfully  bad,  mother, 
and  sudden — if  you  ask  me  to  go  to  school!  " 

Madame  Mother  joined  in  the  spirit  of  the  oc 
casion  with  a  flitting  beam  of  happiness,  as  she 
surveyed  him  proudly.  Aunt  Julia  endeavored  to 
smile  as  she  knit  in  repressed  fury. 

"  There's  a  lot  I  can  do,  too,"  he  continued. 
"  Don't  you  think  this  wall  paper  is  getting  a 
little  dingy?  I'll  tell  you  what!  We'll  hire  a 
double-seated  carriage  and  go  to  Stottstown  for 
some  new  rolls  and  I'll  hang  it !  ' 

To  this  he  received  no  answer  except  another 
smile,  which  he  accepted  as  an  affirmative,  as  he 
looked  about  the  room  and  recollections  of  his  boy- 


A  BIG,  SIMPLE  MAN  IN  LOVE  245 

hood  days  were  springing  to  mind  from  the 
touchstone  of  familiar  objects.  His  sweeping 
glance  was  arrested  by  a  portrait  of  a  little  girl 
with  braids,  and  he  rose  and  opened  the  blind  and 
slanted  the  frame  sideways  in  order  that  he  might 
see  it  better. 

66  Oh,  but  isn't  that  good  of  Ellen!  She  hasn't 
changed  much,  has  she  1  ' ' 

Was  it  something  concerning  her,  he  suddenly 
thought,  that  made  Pam  so  miserable! 

"  Where  is  she!    Where  is  she!  "  he  asked. 

Aunt  Julia  increased  the  speed  of  her  needles. 
Her  lips  moved  nervously,  but  not  in  speech. 

i '  She  is  out, ' '  Madame  Mother  answered. 

"  I'll  find  her.  Oh,  I'll  give  her  a  surprise. 
Where  had  I  best  begin  to  look!  " 

The  way  in  which  Madame  Mother  glanced  at 
Aunt  Julia  showed  that  further  light  must  come 
from  her  sister.  Aunt  Julia  stopped  knitting  with 
spasmodic  abruptness.  She  spoke  starkly: 

'  i  She 's  out  in  an  automobile  with  Ned  Walker ! ' ' 

We  may  excuse  one  in  an  aerial  frame  of  mind, 
fresh  from  the  city,  for  the  response  of  his  sense 
of  humor  to  the  picture  of  the  two  old  ladies  so 
overwrought  in  their  conscientious  views  of  what 
seemed  to  him  only  a  passing  disappointment  for 
himself — other  afternoons  were  coming,  however 
— and  otherwise,  unless  to  him,  a  negligible 
incident. 

"  Horrors!  "  he  exclaimed,  unthinkingly,  and 
broke  into  a  laugh. 

"  It's  not  a  laughing  matter,  Jimmy,"  Madame 


246  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

Mother  reproved  him  sharply.  He  saw  tears  start 
ing  in  Aunt  Julia's  eyes. 

"  That  is  not  all,"  Aunt  Julia  resumed.  "  He 
called  her  Ellen  when  he  came  and  it  seems  she's 
seen  a  lot  of  him.  Indeed,  he  has  been  paying 
attention  to  her  quite  regularly  while  she  was  at 
school." 

"  Well,  little  aunt,  what  if  he  has?  He's  not  a 
hobgoblin  and  she  is " 

"  Jimmy,  did  you  know  of  this!  Of  their  rides 
together  on  the  Hudson?  '  It  was  Madame 
Mother's  turn,  in  the  division  of  authority,  to  ask 
this  question. 

"  I  do  know  that  she  is  young " 

Aunt  Julia  shook  her  head  in  sad  conviction. 

"  You  admit  it,  then.  You  have  been  an  acces 
sory!  And  she  told  nothing  to  me — to  me,  the 
nearest  person  in  the  world  to  her !  She  deliber 
ately  deceived  me !  ' ' 

The  Big  Fellow  was  getting  a  little  out  of 
temper. 

"  No.  We're  taking  it  too  seriously,  just  be 
cause  his  name  is  Walker.  Why  shouldn't  she  go 
riding?  Why  shouldn't  she  have  friends?  Why 
shouldn't  she  enjoy  life?  " 

"  Not  by  deception,"  Aunt  Julia  insisted.  "  No. 
not  by  deception." 

61  She  couldn't  deceive  anyone.  She  is  day 
light!  " 

4 '  And  you  defend  her  action !  '  This  from  his 
mother,  with  a  gasp. 

*  *  Far  be  it  from  me  to  defend  one  who  needs  no 


A  BIG,  SIMPLE  MAN  IN  LOVE 

defense.  Soon  she  will  be  back  radiant  and  we'll 
welcome  her  and  remember  that  we  were  young 
once  ourselves/' 

How  could  he  ever  reconcile  them  in  their  little 
world,  in  which  motes  of  pleasure  might  be  beams 
of  transgression,  to  the  life  of  the  outer  world,  he 
asked  himself,  after  he  had  kissed  them  both  on 
the  forehead  and  patted  Aunt  Julia's  hand — with 
out  receiving  a  word  in  response — and  started 
alone  over  the  fields  which  he  and  Ellen  had 
tramped  together  a  week  before! 

On  top  of  the  hill  under  the  big  tree  he  rested 
for  a  long  time,  watching  the  road  toward  Colonel 
Walker's  country  place.  With  the  waves  of  fear, 
of  disappointment,  of  inquiry  that  passed  over 
him  his  reason  permitted  no  cousinship.  Why 
shouldn't  she  go!  She  did  not  know  that  he  was 
coming  home.  He  made  sport  of  himself  in  having 
been  the  victim  rather  than  the  cause  of  a  sur 
prise,  which  served  him  right,  perhaps.  Yes, 
other  afternoons  were  coming  which  would  be  his. 
Then  he  would  speak.  His  resolution  on  this 
score  was  not  in  the  slightest  weakened.  Nothing 
should  prevent  his  telling  all  he  felt,  now. 

With  sunset  yellowing  the  ribbon  of  dust  that 
lay  between  the  dark  lines  of  the  fences,  over 
which  no  welcome  flash  of  the  brass  of  motor 
fittings  had  passed,  he  returned  to  the  house  to  a 
solemn  supper  with  one  seat  vacant.  The  two  old 
ladies'  manner  and  his  denoting  no  change  of 
view,  if  not  the  presence  of  Pam,  would  have  kept 
them  from  mentioning  the  absent  one. 


248  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

After  the  table  was  cleared,  Madame  Mother 
and  Aunt  Julia  went  back  to  their  knitting.  He 
saw  that  if  any  talk  were  to  break  the  strain  of 
churchly  monotony  it  must  come  from  him.  In  his 
search  for  a  topic  to  divert  them  he  found,  as  one 
always  does  when  he  wishes  to  be  amusing,  that 
lively  narration  will  not  come  to  order.  Audience 
and  speaker  had  the  same  fault ;  their  minds  were 
elsewhere.  Between  sentences  he  was  conscious 
of  listening,  and  he  knew  that  they  were. 

He  talked  of  Theodore  Dexter  a  while.  Wasn't 
it  odd  and  enjoyable  this  new  habit  of  his  for  fol 
lowing  young  hearts  in  their  trials?  Madame 
Mother  remarked  dryly  that  Mr.  Dexter  was  in 
his  dotage,  evidently;  yes,  very  evidently.  Still 
other  tacks  Big  tried,  for  he  hated  to  hear  the  tick 
ing  of  the  clock  and  the  clicking  of  Aunt  Julia's 
needles.  At  eleven  Madame  Mother  rose  and 
turned  down  the  lamp  wick.  The  act  had  all  the 
significance  of  preparation  for  a  siege. 

"  Perhaps  she  will  stay  all  night  at  Colonel 
Walker's/'  he  suggested,  speaking  at  last  of  the 
common  subject  of  which  all  three  were  thinking. 
"  The  automobile  may  have  broken  down.  We 
may  be  sure  she  is  safe.  Why  should  we  wait  up  ? 
Why  shouldn't  we  go  to  bed?  " 

"  There's  no  reason  why  you  shouldn't, 
Jimmy, ' '  was  the  only  encouragement  he  had,  and 
this  from  Madame  Mother. 

"  Aunt  Julia,  I  am  sure  you  love  me  a  little, 
don 't  you  f  ' '  He  took  her  hands,  which  were  cold 
and  unresponsive,  in  his  and  stopped  the  needles. 


A  BIG,  SIMPLE  MAN  IN  LOVE  249 

"  Do  something  for  your  nephew!  Just  wait  till 
morning  and  morning  will  make  everything  clear, 
and  there  will  be  Ellen  at  the  breakfast  table  ex 
plaining  and  asking  your  pardon. ' ' 

"  Do  you  think  I  would  sleep?  "  she  asked 
metallically,  with  an  effort  at  stoical  patience 
with  his  incomprehension.  "  Do  you  not  know 
that  I  have  been  responsible  for  her  ever  since  she 
was  a  baby!  But, Martha,  you  need  not  stay  up." 

i  i  My  place  is  with  you, ' '  said  Madame  Mother. 

Here  he  gave  up  battling  with  windmills  for 
want  of  a  proper  weapon  and  sat  down  at  the 
window,  listening  to  the  old  clock  striking  the 
quarters. 

"Twelve!"  Aunt  Julia  exclaimed,  after  the 
last  stroke. 

In  a  few  minutes  they  heard  the  whir  of  the 
cylinders  and  the  lights  of  the  machine  as  it  took 
the  curve  of  the  drive  flashed  through  the  window- 
panes,  reflecting  the  calm,  set  faces  of  the  wait 
ing  tribunal.  The  culprit  was  riding  on  the  front 
seat  alone  with  Ned. 

"  I've  had  a  glorious  time!  I  wonder  if  one 
ever  could  get  tired  of  it !  "  the  Big  Fellow  heard 
her  say. 

"  I  know  a  girl  I  would  never  tire  of,"  Ned 
answered;  and  the  moonlight  was  bright  enough 
for  the  Big  Fellow  to  see  Ned's  bare,  bent  head 
and  his  earnestness  and  grace  of  pose.  He  felt  a 
shameful  eavesdropper,  but  what  he  saw  lasted 
such  a  short  time  that  the  instinct  to  withdraw 
was  only  felt  before  the  little  scene  was  over. 


250  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

Ellen  drew  her  hand  away  from  Ned,  laughing 
lightly. 

1 '  It's  ridiculous,  Ned!  "  she  told  him.  "  Why, 
you're  ten  years  older  than  I  am!  You  know  it's 
ridiculous.  If  you  speak  of  it  again  I'll  refuse 
ever  to  go  riding  with  you. ' ' 

"  Ten  years  older!  "  Big  repeated,  under  his 
breath. 

"  I  obey  for  the  present — till  after  the  next 
ride,"  Ned  returned,  good-naturedly.  "  Now,  if 
anyone  is  up,  shouldn't  I  apologize  and  explain 
how  it  was  you  were  kept  so  late!  ' 

"  Oh,  no.    I  can  do  that.    Good-night!  " 

The  Big  Fellow  heard  her  footstep  on  the  porch 
distantly  in  a  moment  when  he  was  transfixed 
with  his  own  thoughts.  If  Ned  with  his  youthful- 
ness  for  his  years  and  his  good  looks  were  too  old, 
how  about  himself?  And  what  was  it  Willy  had 
called  him?  "  A  stuffed  Olympus  with  the  saw 
dust  running  out!  ' 

Then  she  was  speaking  to  him — to  him  first— 
as  she  stood  in  the  doorway,  her  hair  and  hat 
sparkling  with  dew  and  bringing  into  the  room 
something  that  made  the  air  vibrate  with  the  joy 
of  living;  and  though  her  hands  were  gloved,  as 
she  outstretched  them  both  his  went  a-tingling  at 
the  touch. 

"  Oh,  Big!  I  didn't  know  you  were  coming! 
You  old  fraud !  And  you  waited  up  for  me !  I  do 
need  scolding !  ' 

With  this,  she  turned  to  the  others,  who  sat 
quietly  looking  at  her. 


The  lights  of  the  machine  flashed  through  the  window  pane. 


A  BIG,  SIMPLE  MAN  IN  LOVE  251 

"  You  make  me  seem  wicked!  "  slie  cried  to 
Aunt  Julia.  "  I  didn't  expect  you  would  wait 
up  for  me !  ' 

"  Did  you  think  we  would  go  to  bed!  "  asked 
Aunt  Julia,  her  accent  high-pitched  and  tremu 
lous. 

"  Why,  yes,"  she  answered  innocently,  in  sur 
prise.  "  The  machine  got  out  of  order  and  I 
stayed  to  dinner  at  the  Walkers '  and  the  telephone 
to  the  village  was  out  of  order,  too,  so  I  couldn't 
send  word ;  and  we  came  home  as  soon  as  we  could. 
Oh,  I  am  so  sorry !  ' ' 

She  took  two  or  three  quick  steps  in  her  con 
trition,  meaning  to  kiss  Aunt  Julia  and  ask  for 
giveness,  when  the  forbidding  grimness  of  Aunt 
Julia 's  face  made  her  pause. 

6 '  You  will  go  to  your  room  at  once,  Ellen,  and 
wait  in  the  morning  till  I  come  in. ' ' 

Ellen  took  a  step  backward  in  quivering  recoil. 
The  Big  Fellow  saw  her  eyelashes  lift  in  wonder 
and  her  nostrils  tremble  with  a  quick  breath.  Then 
she  recovered  herself  and  smiled. 

"  Why,  I  was  going,  anyway,  Aunt  Julia,"  she 
said.  "  Oh,  please  don't  feel  so!  I  was  very 
thoughtless.  I  should  have  insisted  on  a  buggy. 
But  I  was  hungry  and  dinner  waiting,  and  after 
dinner  they  kept  saying  every  few  minutes  that 
the  car  would  soon  be  ready."  She  was  more 
than  contrite  now ;  she  was  appealing. 

1 '  Hours !  Hours !  Hours  there  at  Colonel 
Walker's,  while  we  waited  and  worried  here  at 
home !  I've  given  my  life  to  your  care,  Ellen !  " 


252  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

There  were  tears  in  Aunt  Julia's  voice  and 
tears  in  Ellen's. 

"  Everything  I  owe  to  you — everything  to  you 
and  Big!  What  was  I  when  I  came ?  A  baby  in  a 
blanket !  I  do  not  even  remember  the  faces  of  my 
parents." 

' '  So  you  realize  that,  at  least !  You  say  you  do 
— and  so  easily !  '  Aunt  Julia  was  still  dry-eyed ; 
her  voice  was  now  metallic.  ' '  So  easily,  and  you 
have  deceived  me.  You  have  known  Ned  Walker 
for  months.  I,  who  should  have  been  your  con 
fidante,  have  never  been  consulted. " 

Ellen  hung  her  head  as  if  confessing  guilt,  but 
when  she  looked  up  it  was  into  Aunt  Julia's  eyes 
serenely : 

"  Probably  there  were  little  things  I  might 
have  told  you  and  did  not,"  she  said,  "  but  no 
wrong  was  meant.  I  was  conscious  of  none.  I 
was  happy.  I  may  have  thought  that  you  would 
not  understand  unless  you  were  present,  and  so 
not  have  written  as  fully  as  I  ought.  And  I  am 
thoughtless — and  I  do  like  movement,  as  you 
know,  Aunt  Julia." 

Such  admissions  formed  a  confession  without 
reparation  to  the  stern  old  lady.  They  only 
pointed  her  sense  of  outrage. 

"  I  taught  you  not  to  lie,  and  you  lied!  "  she 
declared. 

"No!    no!    Don't  say  that!  "  Ellen  pleaded. 

1  i  And  you  Ve  done  a  wanton  thing  to-night !  ' 

"No!  no!  Oh,  Aunt  Julia,  take  that  back!  " 
Ellen  begged ;  and  she  sank  on  her  knees  and  took 


A  BIG,  SIMPLE  MAN  IN  LOVE  253 

Aunt  Julia's  hands  in  hers.  "  Think,  Aunt  Julia, 
think!  You  do  owe  me  a  little!  "  she  said,  sob 
bing. 

Yes,  Aunt  Julia  did  owe  her  a  little,  the  little 
being  the  happiness  of  that  household.  Had  the 
Puritan  guardian  never  thought  that  Ellen's 
proud  spirit  might  sometimes  feel  the  leash  of  her 
dependence?  That  Ellen's  thoughts  might  some 
times  dwell,  kind  as  the  household  was  to  her,  on 
that  real  father  and  mother  whom  she  had  never 
known?  Gratitude  and  discipline  mate  well  and 
quietly  till  the  harness  breaks. 

"  Please  just  say  that  you  don't  believe  what 
you  are  saying — and  I'll  do  anything,  anything!  ' 
Ellen  concluded. 

But  Aunt  Julia's  anger  fed  on  anger.  Stub 
bornness  would  not  allow  her  to  make  a  retraction, 
even  if  she  thought  one  were  due. 

"  I  do  believe,"  she  rejoined,  "  that  you  have 
done  what  no  right-thinking,  respectable  girl 
would  do,  and  after  this  there  is  nothing  I  might 
not  expect!  " 

Oh,  that  French  and  Irish  blood !  It  had  borne 
all  it  could.  From  contrition  it  flew  into  cool  pas 
sion,  borne  on  by  a  will  as  strong  as  Aunt  Julia's. 
That  relaxed  body  which  had  been  bending  for 
forgiveness  rose  in  unyielding  steadiness  and  the 
eyes  that  had  been  pleading  with  soft  lights  were 
afire. 

Madame  Mother,  watching  and  listening,  her 
manner  plainly  showing  dissent  from  Aunt  Julia's 
action,  though  Ellen  was  her  sister's  special  care, 


254  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

leaned  forward  and  opened  her  lips  as  if  she 
would  speak ;  but  Big  was  ahead  of  her. 

' '  It 's  shameful !  You  are  entirely  wrong,  Aunt 
Julia!  "  he  said. 

Then  on  Madame  Mother's  face — as  she  looked 
toward  her  son  who  was  regarding  Ellen  in  pity, 
in  sympathy,  in  worship  which  he  was  unable  to 
repress — appeared  the  light  of  a  new  understand 
ing,  and  she  was  silent. 

' '  Good-night,  Aunt  Martha.  Good-night,  Aunt 
Julia.  I'll  not  be  in  my  room  in  the  morning, 
Aunt  Julia,"  Ellen  said,  and  went  up  the  stairs. 

The  Big  Fellow  had  no  thought  of  his  words, 
which  now  came  quickly.  He  spoke  out  of  his 
raging  heart : 

' '  You  ought  to  ask  her  forgiveness  after  that ! 
You  have  done  her  a  cruel  wrong,  Aunt  Julia! 
You  will  be  sorry  for  it  in  the  morning.  This 
minute  we  ought  all  to  go  on  our  knees  to  her! 
The  worst  of  her  is  better  than  all  our  virtues  to 
gether!  " 

Madame  Mother  was  only  firm,  properly  firm,  in 
keeping  with  her  view  of  the  situation,  as  she 
said: 

' '  Jimmy,  I  am  sorry  to  see  that  you  are  not  yet 
entirely  cured  of  your  temper.  This  is  clearly  a 
case  for  Julia's  authority,  with  which  you  and  I 
have  nothing  to  do." 

' '  I  have  everything !  "  he  answered. 

Madame  Mother  shook  her  head  at  him,  compre- 
hendingly;  and  the  pleader,  put  out  of  court,  ran 
upstairs,  calling  to  Ellen: 


A  BIG,  SIMPLE  MAN  IN  LOVE  255 

"  She  doesn't  really  mean  it !  She  loves  you,  as 
we  all  do !  I  promise  you  she  doesn't  realize  what 
she  was  saying  and  she  will  ask  you  to  forgive  her 
the  instant  that  she  does  " — as  he  was  sure  that 
she  would. 

Ellen  had  already  closed  her  door.  He  knocked. 
Waiting  outside  for  her  to  respond,  he  saw  that 
Ned  Walker's  automobile  had  been  stopped  in  the 
road,  evidently  by  a  tire  puncture,  for  he  was 
working  over  the  rear  wheel  by  the  light  of  a 
lantern. 

66  Do  let  me  speak  a  word!  '  he  persisted. 
"  Consider  how  Aunt  Julia  was  worried — what  a 
martyr  to  her  sense  of  duty  she  is  and  how  over 
wrought!  " 

Now  she  did  answer,  quietly  from  within : 

"  Thank  you,  Big.  I  understand.  And,  Big,  I 
see  Ned 's  machine  is  broken  down  out  by  the  gate. 
He  will  gladly  come  for  me  in  the  morning  and 
take  me  to  Stottstown.  Will  you  send  Pam  to  say 
that  I  ask  him  to  come  over  at  seven  ?  ' ' 

"  Oh,  no,  Ellen!  Please  wait  a  little.  I  ask 
you  to — old  Big  asks  you!  ' 

She  seemed  not  to  hear  him;  or,  if  she  heard, 
not  to  consider  what  he  said. 

i '  Never  mind.  I  can  do  it  myself.  That 's  bet 
ter,  anyway." 

She  opened  the  door  to  come  out  just  as 
Madame  Mother  and  Aunt  Julia  were  at  the  head 
of  the  stairs.  There  in  the  hall  they  paused  and 
she  paused  for  a  brittle  second,  their  faces  white 
in  the  flicker  of  the  candlelight. 


256  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  Now,  Aunt  Julia, "  he  begged,  "  you  see  the 
result.  She's  going  away!  You're  driving  her 
out!  You're  breaking  my  heart!  ' 

' '  If  she  chooses  to  run  away  from  me — after  all 
I  have  done—  ' '  Aunt  Julia  began. 

"  No!  Not  that!  That  is  not  fair!  "  he  in 
sisted. 

Perhaps  Aunt  Julia,  who  had  done  all  out  of 
love,  agreed  with  him  in  her  heart.  She  did  not 
finish  the  utterance  of  that  reproach. 

1 '  I  cannot  stop  her.  She  is  of  age !  '  And 
with  her  leading,  she  and  Madame  Mother  passed 
on  to  Madame  Mother's  room. 

Ellen,  still,  cold,  her  expression  masklike,  waited 
on  the  end  of  the  interview  as  a  release  from  the 
futile  and  unbearable  and  hastened,  without  hav 
ing  spoken,  down  the  stairs.  What  a  message  her 
action  had  for  the  Big  Fellow!  In  her  hour  of 
need  she  passed  him  by  to  go  to  Ned  Walker ! 

There  was  no  other  sound  except  her  footsteps. 
His  thoughts  threshing,  he  heard  her  unbolt  the 
door.  Through  the  hall  window  he  saw  a  slim 
figure,  intent  purpose  in  its  aspect,  flit  across  the 
lawn  to  Ned  Walker.  Their  faces  he  could  not  see 
or  guess  their  words.  All  this  was  wrapped  in 
the  mystery  of  the  night  and  the  moonlight.  She 
spoke  to  Ned  for  a  moment  and  then  came  running 
back.  Big  heard  her  bolt  the  door,  and  when  she 
returned  he  was  standing  exactly  where  she  had 
left  him. 

1  i  Ellen !  ' '  He  was  going  to  speak  all  he  had  in 
his  heart. 


A  BIG,  SIMPLE  MAN  IN  LOVE  257 

She  stopped  him  by  the  very  quickness  of  her 
manner  if  not  of  her  words,  which  bore  at  their 
outset  the  finality  of  a  parting  message. 

"  Ned  will  come,"  she  said.  "  And  now,  Big, 
don't!  Don't  hurt  me  by  saying  anything  more. 
It  will  always  be  the  same  between  you  and 

me "  her  voice  caught  and  she  paused,  only 

to  proceed  passionately — "  and  I'll  write  to  the 
potentate,  if  I  may. ' ' 

Then  that  winning  impulse  of  his  in  great 
crises,  as  concentrated  as  a  rifle's  course  to  its 
target,  sent  his  blood  whipping  in  his  veins.  He 
wanted  to  take  her  in  his  arms,  to  say  that  she 
should  not  go  without  him,  for  he  loved  her.  But 
will  held  impulse  in  control.  What  right  had  he, 
the  big  one,  the  Judge,  the  Governor,  the  man  on 
the  threshold  of  middle  age,  to  presume  on  his 
position  as  her  guardian  and  benefactor,  which 
he  knew  that  he  was  in  her  eyes!  He  could  see 
that  she  was  smiling  and  the  thought  that  she 
could  smile  smote  him — an  ill  student  of  a 
woman's  smile. 

'  '  Will  you  tell  Pam  to  help  me  with  my  trunk 
at  seven?  "  she  asked.  "  And  you  would  not  like 
to  be  pled  with  if  you  were  in  my  place,  would 
you,  Big?  I  can't  help  what  I  am  doing.  Things 
are  too  splintery.  A  few  hours  will  not  change  my 
view.  It's  just  I — what  is  in  me — stubbornness— 
anything!  I  could  not  sit  down  to  breakfast  in 
this  house  in  the  morning — I  should  choke!  I 
can't  do  anything  but  go.  And  you  try  to  dissuade 
me — you — when  the  whole  thing  is  hard  enough 


258  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

with — without  that!  Good-night,  Big.  Good 
night,  Governor  of  the  tropic  island!  " 

She  dwelt  on  the  word  "  Governor  "  as  she  held 
out  her  hand  frankly.  He  took  it,  but  in  the  bar 
est  interval  it  was  withdrawn  and  she  was  back  in 
her  room,  while  he  stood,  a  forlorn  statue  in  the 
dim  light,  that  scene  by  the  automobile  reproduc 
ing  itself  to  his  mind  as  one  in  which  her  blithe- 
ness  seemed  truly  at  home.  She  had  spoken  to 
Ned  with  an  unmistakable  fondness.  Her  censure 
of  Ned's  persistence  had  had  the  playfulness  of 
one  little  offended.  The  Big  Fellow  thought  now 
that  he  understood  everything.  Yet,  one  more 
effort  would  he  make  for  her  sake. 

"  Madame  Mother!  Aunt  Julia!  "  he  called, 
as  he  rapped  on  his  mother's  door. 

No  answer  came. 

' '  Madame  Mother !  Aunt  Julia !  She 's  going ! 
Won't  you  let  me  say  one  word  for  you  to  her?  ' 

"  We  are  praying,  Jimmy,"  Madame  Mother 
responded. 

"  We  shall  not  change,"  said  Aunt  Julia.  "  It 
is  her  place  to  speak  first." 

Too  much  respect  he  had  for  Ellen's  position, 
too  much  respect  for  his  own,  now,  to  be  present 
at  her  departure.  With  dew-soaked  boots  he 
marched  and  countermarched  over  the  fields,  mak 
ing  a  new  bargain  with  life;  and  from  the  hill  he 
saw  the  machine  speeding  along  the  road  toward 
Stottstown  shortly  after  seven.  When  he  re 
turned  he  went  to  his  room  and  began  to  pack. 

"  I  am  sorry,  but  I  can't  stay  after  she  has 


A  BIG,  SIMPLE  MAN  IN  LOVE  259 

gone,"  he  told  his  mother,  gently.  "  I  want  to  be 
at  my  work.  I  will  start  at  once. ' ' 

By  leaving  that  afternoon  he  could  catch  an 
earlier  steamer  than  he  had  planned.  Madame 
Mother  and  Aunt  Julia,  pale  and  haggard,  but 
uplifted  by  that  Puritan  conviction,  which  is  its 
own  solace,  of  duty  done,  understood  how  little 
holiday,  after  what  had  happened,  there  would  be 
in  that  house  in  the  week  to  come.  Though  suffer 
ing  keenly  in  their  hearts,  they  conspired  that  his 
parting  should  not  be  gloomy.  For  this  was  a 
matter  having  nothing  to  do  with  his  opinions  or 
theirs.  What  were  a  few  days  to  Madame  Mother 
with  the  span  of  sixty  years  behind  her,  when  she 
lived  in  another's  progress  rather  than  his  pres 
ence?  In  time  he  would  return  from  his  island, 
his  great  work  done,  and  all  would  be  well.  She 
was  hopeful.  She  gave  him  a  little  advice.  Moist- 
eyed,  yet  speaking  cheerfully — far  more  cheer 
fully  than  he — in  her  pride  of  him,  she  bade  him 
Godspeed  on  his  mission. 

As  Epaminanidad,  the  true  philosopher  of  the 
household,  had  said,  you  couldn't  take  a  step  in 
the  dark  in  that  family  without  bumping  into 
* '  some  kara&ter  f urnichur. ' ' 


XXIV 

DOUBLE   PAY   FOE   ABC'S 

"  TT  DUNNO  why  yose  gwine  an'  I  dunno  wheah 
yose  gwine, "  Pam  said,  as  he  and  Ned 
Walker  lifted  the  trunk  into  the  tonneau; 
"  but  dey's  one  t'ing  I  do  know,  jes'  as  kerrect 
an'  easy.  I  knows  mah  heart's  with  yo'  an'  yose 
right.  An',  Miss  Ellen  '  —a  lean  and  stooped  old 
figure,  with  grizzly,  kinky  hair  and  dusky, 
wrinkled  skin  bluish  in  the  early  light,  he  looked 
into  her  eyes,  appealingly — "  Miss  Ellen,  some 
times  a  pusson  has  a  kind  o'  deep  feelin'  he  cain't 
'spress  in  any  other  way — an',  Miss  Ellen,  I'd 
like  to  kiss  yo'  hand." 

"  You  old  silly!  "  she  said.  "  You  old  dear!  " 
she  added,  her  voice  catching,  and  she  held  out 
her  slim,  beautiful  hand  while  he  made  a  cere 
monial  of  touching  his  lips  to  the  fingers. 

"  Miss  Ellen,  keep  cheerful.  All  de  clouds  roll 
by  jes'  as  easy,  jes'  as  easy,  when  yo'  keeps  cheer 
ful.  Good-by!" 

Ned  threw  in  the  gear,  and  Pam  stepped  back 
from  the  machine  with  tears  glistening  on  his 
cheeks. 

"  There  is  someone  else  who  kisses  your  hand," 
Ned  suggested. 

260 


DOUBLE  PAY  FOR  ABC'S  261 

"  Not  in  that  house,  I  fear,"  she  said,  absently. 

"  Well,  speaking  for  myself,  IVe  been  more 
ambitious, "  he  returned. 

"  And  not  very  successful." 

"Wholly  unsuccessful.  Which  way?"  he 
asked.  "  To  Stottstown,  I  suppose." 

"  Yes,  of  course,  and — then  I'll  direct  you," 
she  answered. 

Why  had  she  not  mentioned  that  she  wished  to 
go  to  Stottstown  before  she  went  into  the  house 
last  evening?  Why  had  she  sent  for  him  so  sud 
denly?  It  was  not  for  him  to  conjecture  about 
private  matters.  But  they  did  concern  him  if 
he  had  been  a  cause.  So  he  put  a  question : 

"  It  was  all  right?  They  understood  why  you 
were  so  late?  " 

"  I  don't  know  just  how  much  they  understood. 
There  was  a  little  quarrel.  I'm  going  away." 

He  would  explain,  he  began  earnestly ;  he  would 
write  a  note;  he  would — but  she  stopped  him. 

"  That  is  all  over.  It's  very  good  of  you  to 
take  me,  Ned,"  she  said,  definitely,  looking  di 
rectly  at  him  for  the  first  time  since  she  had  come 
down  the  steps  and  then  almost  immediately 
back  to  the  road,  which  was  flowing  no  faster 
than  her  thoughts. 

He  could  not  keep  away  from  the  topic  which 
she  had  forbidden. 

"  Come  to  our  house  to  stay!"  he  begged. 
1 1  Oh,  I  wish  you  would  stay  forever !  My  mother, 
I  know,  would  like  to  have  you,  and  father  is  fond 
of  you,  and — yes,  he'd  like  to  have  you." 


262  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  Do  you  think  the  Colonel  really  would?  "  she 
asked. 

"  I  know  he  would!  You — you  mustn't  think 
family  rows  have  any  influence  with  him  on  this 
score. ' ' 

Xed  stole  such  glances  at  her  face  as  his  atten 
tion  to  the  machine  would  permit.  Her  pallor 
was  passing  with  the  rush  of  the  air.  Her  absorp 
tion  in  her  troubles,  the  traces  of  pain  in  the  lines 
of  the  mouth,  made  sympathy  urge  on  his  suit. 

"  Xo,  no!  He  doesn't  care,  either,  whether  you 
have  money — if  that  makes  you  hesitate.  Xo, 
he's  not  selfish  that  way.  He  is  selfish  only  in 
that  he  loves  the  game  of  making  money  and 
beating  his  enemies.  He  loves  it  as  an  opium 
fiend  loves  opium.  Yes,  that  part  would  be  all 
right.  What  does  it  matter  if  it  isn't!  He  could 
go  to  the  devil  if  you  would  only  say " 

By  this  time  his  earnestness  had  so  far  invaded 
her  preoccupation  that  she  was  hearing  him  quite 
distinctly.  This  outburst,  she  suddenly  realized, 
must  be  the  result  of  some  question,  indistinct 
in  her  memory,  which  she  had  asked  him  about 
the  Colonel  just  to  make  conversation. 

k*  Xed,  you  agreed — and,  Xed,  now.  of  all 
times !  "  she  pleaded,  with  a  little  cry,  which  made 
him  ashamed  and  confused. 

"Oh,  I'm  a  brute!  "  he  exclaimed.  "  But  I 
couldn't  help  it,  and  if — if  "  (with  conviction) 
"  if  I  couldn't  help  it,  doesn't  that  show  how 
deeply  I  feel?  Doesn't  it. 

"  Yes;"  and  she  had  to  smile  at  his  ingenu- 


DOUBLE  PAY  FOR  ABC'S  263 

ousness,    which,    in    a    handsome    man,    has    its 
attraction. 

They  were  nearing  the  private  road  which  led 
to  the  Walkers'  country  place. 

"  You'll  come  up  for  breakfast,  won't  you?  ' 
he  asked. 

She  started  at  the  suggestion. 

"  No,  no!  "  She  spoke  with  a  touch  of  impa 
tience  which  a  second  thought  told  her  was  incon 
siderate.  "  Xo,  Xed,"  she  said,  more  gently;  and 
he  had  another  glimpse  of  her  eyes  begging  for 
comprehension  from  under  the  curtains  of  the 
wonderful  lashes.  "  I'm  not  hungry — and  unless 
you  are,  I'd  really  like  to  keep  right  on  to  Stotts- 
town.  Is  that  too  far?  It  is  so  good  of  you  to 
bring  me." 

"  I  could  take  you  clear  to  Xew  York  without 
getting  hungry,  myself,"  he  said. 

She  had  to  smile  at  him  for  this.  It  was  a 
pleasant  compliment  after  one  has  been  called 
wanton. 

"  You're  going  beyond  Stottstown,  aren't 
you!  "  he  asked,  greedily,  over  the  prospect  that 
rose  before  him. 

"  Yes." 

"  Then  we'll  have  breakfast  there  at  the  hotel. 
Shall  we?  May  I?  " 

"  Yres,  of  course  you  may,"  she  answered. 

11  Splendid !  Splendid !  "  Oh,  but  I'll  enjoy  it !  " 
Xed  cried. 

His  thoughts  were  all  of  the  breakfast  as  they 
sped  along,  while  she  was  trying  to  think,  think, 


264  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

think  how  she  could  earn  money,  just  as  Big,  she 
reminded  herself,  had  had  to  think  ten  years 
before  when  he  set  out  for  the  city. 

Ned  picked  flowers  from  the  hotel-keeper's  gar 
den  and,  lacking  a  vase,  put  them  in  a  pitcher 
for  the  table,  and  he  made  believe  there  was  never 
such  another  meal  in  the  world  as  this  in  the  cool 
of  a  summer  morning.  He  was  quite  in  a  mood 
to  have  it  last  all  through  the  forenoon;  only  she 
insisted  that  they  proceed  to  the  home  of  a  school 
girl  comrade  some  ten  miles  beyond  Stottstown. 
There  he  carried  the  trunk  onto  the  porch  in  the 
best  porter's  style,  and  doffing  his  cap  suggested 
that  it  was  "  a  hot  day,  Miss,"  as  if  a  tip  would 
relieve  the  temperature  considerably.  She  gave 
him  a  five-cent  piece,  which  he  reverently  put  in 
his  pocket. 

"  You  have  been  good  about  this,  Ned,"  she 
told  him.  "  You've  made  it  easier  by  being  so 
light-hearted. ' ' 

He  knew  something  that  would  make  him  really 
light-hearted,  but  he  could  not  say  that  in  the 
presence  of  Miss  Tyson,  the  girl  friend. 

"I'm  coming  to  take  you  both  out  for  a  spin,  if 
I  may,"  he  said;  "  and  is  there  anything  else  I 
can  do  for  you?  " 

"  Yes,  Ned,"  she  answered,  "  if  you  would  send 
word  to  the  post-office  at  Bolton  to  forward  any 
letters — or,  no,  I  can  write  as  well." 

"  No,  you  can't — not  nearly.  I'll  go  right  over 
before  I  return."  Then  he  called  from  the  ma 
chine  before  departing,  in  triumph:  "  I've  got  a 


DOUBLE  PAY  FOR  ABC'S  265 

better  way.  I'll  bring  your  mail  every  day ;"  and 
before  he  could  be  answered,  this  young-old  mil 
lionaire's  son,  who  was  a  puzzle  to  his  father,  was 
out  of  hearing. 

Ned  kept  to  his  schedule  with  faithful  regu 
larity.  When  there  was  nothing  for  her  at  the 
Bolton  post-office,  he  thought  it  was  his  duty  to 
go  and  tell  her  so.  One  morning  he  brought  her 
a  letter  with  the  address  in  a  firm,  copperplate 
hand.  She  did  not  read  it  at  the  time.  Even 
when  she  went  to  her  room  she  laid  it  on  the 
bureau  until  after  luncheon.  When,  finally,  she 
tore  open  the  envelope  and  breathlessly  caught 
its  sense,  she  told  herself  that  everything  was  as 
she  wished.  All  the  nonsense  was  out  of  her  head, 
and  happily  he  had  never  had  any  in  his,  she 
thought.  She  laughed  at  herself — a  "  profession 
ally  cheerful  "  laugh.  The  Big  Fellow  had  writ 
ten  from  the  train,  and  he  had  not  mentioned  that 
he  had  left  home  on  her  account  before  his  holiday 
was  over.  A  part  may  be  quoted: 

"  Here  I  am  speeding  at  forty  miles  an  hour  on 
my  ten-thousand-mile  journey,  with  all  the  mar 
vels  to  unfold  at  the  end.  Am  I  to  be  the  jewel  of 
wisdom  in  the  forehead  of  a  people,  as  you  sayf 
It's  a  beautiful  idea  and  romantic,  but,  between 
you  and  me,  I  seem  to  be  one  of  the  bearers  of 
the  little  red  schoolhouse  and  the  town  meeting; 
one  of  the  instruments  to  show  the  Tongals  how 
to  be  wise  for  themselves,  without  depending  on 
anyone's  else  wisdom,  which  is  the  true  American 


266  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

way.  Flattery  though  it  is,  I'm  extremely  pleased 
to  be  called  a  jewel  of  wisdom  by  a  competent 
authority  such  as  yourself. 

"  All  of  Lincoln's  speeches  are  in  my  trunk. 
Could  I  make  this  people  understand  him,  it  seems 
as  if  my  mission  were  all  accomplished  and  my 
mind  perfectly  corrected,  as  Pam  says. 

"  I  have  also  a  score  of  books  about  the  Eastern 
peoples — Chinese,  Japanese,  Malays,  Indians,  and 
all  the  rest.  You  can  picture  me  poring  over 
them  on  the  voyage,  somewhat  ticklish  about  ac 
cepting  made-to-order  opinions,  for  no  other  coun 
try's  experience  will  fit  the  situation  when  you 
are  taking  the  little  red  schoolhouse  to  such  a 
destination. 

"  Imagine  me  forgetting  everything  else  in  my 
work  '  (untruth  No.  1,  from  a  Governor  who 
ought  to  tell  the  truth),  "  striving  for  patience 
and  really  to  be  that  jewel  of  wisdom,  with  many 
a  big  brother's  "  (untruth  No.  2)  "  thoughts  for 
your  happiness  and  welfare,  believing  in  your 
own  rare  jewel  of  brightness,  goodness,  and  wis 
dom.  I  put  wisdom  last,  you  see,  and  put  bright 
ness  first.  Will  you  not  write  to  me?  Tell  me  all 
you  are  doing.  Every  detail  will  interest  me 
when  I  am  so  far  from  home. 

"  BIG." 

They  were  to  be  good  friends  and  correspond, 
like  comrade  brother  and  sister,  two-braid  bar 
gains  forgotten  in  their  maturity.  She  wrote  to 
him  at  once,  saying  what  a  splendid  thing  it  was 


DOUBLE  PAY  FOR  ABC'S  267 

that  he  could  bend  his  whole  mind  to  a  task  that 
would  be  disagreeable  to  most  men  and  telling 
him  what  a  good  time  she  was  having. 

But  he  would  not — this  thought  occurred  to  her 
afterward — no,  of  course  he  would  not  think  that 
what  she  was  about  to  do  was  because  of  any — 

of  any Of  course  not.  Why  should  he?  Had 

she  ever  given  him  any  reason  to  suppose  such 
a  thing?  Wasn't  she  going  on  her  own  responsi 
bility,  not  even  mentioning  to  the  authorities  that 
she  knew  him? 

"  It's  abc's  to  little  brown  children  and  no 
'  math,7  •'  as  she  told  Miss  Tyson,  confessing  her 
secret,  "  and  I  do  know  my  abc's,  and  it's  double 
any  pay  I  could  get  at  home  ' ' — and  she  would  like 
to  travel  and  that  was  all  there  was  to  it. 

For  recommendations  she  required  only  that 
of  the  famous  school  on  the  Hudson  Eiver,  whose 
principal  wrote  that  "  you  are  foolish,  I  think, 
as  a  good  many  who  are  going  I  am  afraid  are  not 
very  nice  " — "  nice  "  being  a  favorite  word  of 
the  writer — which  made  one  Miss  Destiny,  of 
Plymouth  Kock  and  Virginia,  who  had  never  been 
so  hard  pressed  for  help  of  the  right  kind  in  any 
crisis,  most  grateful  to  enlist  Miss  Ellen  Moore. 

She  was  going  away  without  another  glimpse 
of  the  old  house  or  of  Aunt  Julia  and  Madame 
Mother,  to  whom  she  had  sent  her  address  when 
she  first  arrived  at  Miss  Tyson's.  "  You  are  wel 
come  here  always  when  you  show  some  appre 
ciation  of  your  offense  and  some  contrition," 
Aunt  Julia,  suffering,  had  written  stiffly  in  an- 


268  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

swer.  Ellen  wrote  again  the  night  before  her 
departure  was  arranged,  saying  she  was  well  and 
had  found  a  position  as  a  teacher.  That  letter 
cost  her  many  tears,  because  she  could  not  speak 
either  of  the  love  or  the  pain  in  her  heart  without, 
it  seemed  to  her,  asking  forgiveness  for  having 
been  wanton.  That  she  would  never  do. 

Of  her  dectination  she  had  said  nothing  what 
ever  to  Ned,  who  took  her  to  the  station  in  his 
car.  Miss  Tyson  was  along,  of  course ;  but  he  did 
manage  to  be  alone  with  Ellen  for  a  moment. 

"  I  haven't  your  address  yet,"  he  said,  plan 
ning  to  follow  in  the  automobile,  if  he  could;  if 
not,  in  a  Pullman. 

"  The  island  of  Bar,"  she  answered. 

Ned  dropped  her  trunk  check  in  his  surprise. 
Nonplused,  speechless,  he  bent  to  pick  it  up, 
groping  for  it  on  the  flagging  in  broad  daylight. 

"  This  isn't  fair!"  he  declared,  in  sober 
reproach. 

61  Why,  yes,  Ned,  it  is  and  quite  necessary — 
when  you  don't  know  '  math  '  and  you  get  double 
pay  for  teaching  brown  children  their  abc's," 
she  answered.  "  Besides,  I  forbade  one  topic 
from  the  first.  And,  Ned — now  don't  look  as  if 
I  were  so  cruel — I'm  not  the  first  one.  You've 
so  many  interests  that  you'll  soon  forget.  Think 
if  I  had  accepted  you  at  first  what  a  position  you 
would  be  in!  ' 

"  Oh,  I  know,"  he  stammered,  a  culprit  con 
victed,  '  *  I  know  all  about  what  can  be  said  on  that 
score.  I "  Miss  Tyson  here  rejoined  them  and 


DOUBLE  PAY  FOR  ABC'S  269 

the  block  signal  tinkled  out  the  tram's  approach. 
i  i  But  this,  I  thought, ' '  he  concluded,  with  a  brave 
effort,  "  was  to  be  rather  permanent/7 

Looking  out  of  the  car  window  she  waved  her 
hand  to  him  as  he  stood  on  the  station  platform 
beside  Miss  Tyson.  He  brightened,  and,  without 
regard  to  appearances,  from  the  tips  of  his 
fingers,  handsomely,  he  blew  her  a  kiss,  which  was 
as  near  as  he  nad  ever  come  to  the  real  article. 


BOOK  III 
XXV 

MISS   DESTINY   MARCHES 

THERE  is  a  young  woman  called  Miss  Destiny, 
who  is  the  guiding  spirit  of  the  nation. 
She  is  a  great  care  to  the  folks  out  Plym 
outh  Eock  way,  and  if  you  will  look  at  her  career 
in  one  spirit  it  is  only  natural  that  she  should  be. 
Isn't  she  theirs?     Didn't  they  nurse  her  in  in 
fancy    and    in    short    dresses,    with   the    future 
uncertain  1 

In  fond  parental  disapproval  they  have  re 
sented,  in  turn,  all  the  steps  she  has  taken  away 
from  home,  although  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  when 
the  steps  are  recognized  as  the  path  of  history, 
they  may  say,  "  Look  at  our  noble  daughter — 
our  daughter!  "  only  to  go  on  worrying  and  criti 
cising  as  soon  as  the  bunting  is  down  and  the  lit 
ter  of  exploded  firecracker  wrappers  swept  up. 

Yes,  oh,  yes!  you  may  be  succeeding  very 
well,  my  dear,  but  do  not  forget  your  mother's 
principles  and  beware  of  the  salaaming  faithful 
who  believe  that  whatever  the  mistress  of  their 
adoration  does  must  be  right  because  she  does 
it.  Miss  Destiny  rarely  talks  back,  possibly  be- 

270 


MISS  DESTINY  MARCHES 

ing  too  busy,  when  she  might  to  some  contro 
versial  purpose,  with  allusions  to  King  Philip's 
wars  and  a  later  generation's  irresponsibility  for 
the  things  that  blood  will  tell.  In  the  fashion  of 
Mrs.  Harden,  the  greater  grows  the  child,  the 
more  particular  is  the  parental  inclination  to  keep 
the  child  in  hand. 

"  This  is  too  much!  "  said  the  folks  out  Plym 
outh  Eock  way,  after  that  long  leap  across  the 
Pacific.  "  You  shake  the  tropical  dust  off  your 
skirts  at  once,  young  lady,  and  return  by  the  first 
steamer  to  Boston,  and  don't  forget  to  ask  for 
prayers  " — prayers  of  foreign  colonial  secre 
taries,  perhaps. 

Was  she  unfilial  to  disobey?  No  doubt;  yet  so 
long  had  they  seen  only  her  receding  back  that 
they  would  scarcely  recognize  the  face  of  their 
own  offspring  if  they  met  her  in  Back  Bay. 

"  Don't  you  know  it's  sinful  and  against  the 
Constitution  to  colonize?  "  they  gasped.  "  At 
least,  do  say  you  are  only  visiting!  You  aren't 
really  laying  out  quarter  sections  and  getting 
property  rights  when  sugar  is  a  glut  in  the  mar 
ket,  we  grow  our  own  tobacco,  and  the  banana 
trade  is  overdone  already!  " 

16  I'm  not  colonizing.  I'm  doing  this  thing  in 
my  own  way,"  she  answered,  glancing  over  her 
shoulder  with  an  enigmatic  smile. 

She  is  young.  She  never  knows  just  what  she 
may  or  may  not  do.  This  new  departure  had  been 
easy,  not  to  say  delightful,  because  she  went  as 
the  guiding  spirit  of  a  victorious  squadron,  which 


272  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

was  faster,  not  to  say  more  sanitary,  than  the 
Mayflower.  Having  concluded  to  remain  tem 
porarily,  she  now  found  that  the  prospect  did  not 
altogether  please.  Her  Emersonian  brow  was 
wrinkled  by  the  riddles  of  a  new  problem. 

"  Come  back!  Come  back,  anyway!  It's  not 
too  late!  "  insisted  the  Plymouth  Eock  folks,  re 
doubling  their  cries  at  this  stage. 

To  yield  was  to  forfeit  the  very  thing  which 
the  Plymouth  Kock  folks  thought  that  she  had 
forfeited  by  remaining.  She  would  have  no  right 
to  look  the  morning  sun  in  the  face. 

It  was  not  the  first  time  she  had  been  in  trouble. 
A  light-hearted  traveler  who  may  trip  to  the 
sound  of  music  and  compliments,  this  guiding 
spirit  of  the  nation  is  a  hard  mistress  when  the 
band  has  gone  home,  the  flatterer's  words  are 
forgotten,  and  labor  begins.  Then  she  sends  gold 
lace  to  the  rear  and  calls  for  men  in  working 
clothes.  She  appeals  to  a  Madame  Mother  for 
her  son.  She  casts  the  silver  net  of  her  wiles 
over  such  girls  as  Miss  Ellen  Moore. 

Kiddy  Witherbee  was  put  on  her  list  at  the 
same  time  as  big  Jim  Harden.  All  he  asked  in 
the  world  of  Miss  Destiny  was  this  honor  of  sit 
ting  beside  the  Big  Fellow  on  the  train,  taking 
notes  of  letters  to  be  written.  A  disciple  of  the 
disciple  was  he;  and  through  the  windows  of  his 
eyeglasses  he  observed  more  than  most  people 
guessed. 

Pete  Maloney's  permanency  in  the  courthouse 
did  not  mean  that  the  other  half  of  the  Big  Fel- 


MISS  DESTINY  MARCHES  273 

low's  personal  political  machine  was  unrepre 
sented.  Was  not  young  Tim,  with  a  touch  of  his 
father 's  brogue,  the  chaplain  of  a  regiment  in  that 
very  island  of  Bar,  from  which  he  sent  home  ac 
counts  which  Mrs.  Maloney  was  always  quoting. 

"It's  a  good  praste  he  is.  Didn't  I  have  it 
from  the  Bishop  himsilf  that  he  was!  "  said  she. 
"  An'  that  naden't  interfere  with  his  havin'  a 
sinse  of  humor,  as  the  Bishop  himsilf  says,  too. 
Shure,  what  he  tells  about  thim  haythin  makes  me 
cry  mesilf  asleep  a-laughin'  whin  I'm  wide  awake 
with  me  pride  of  him. ' ' 

"I'll  bet  the  haythin  aren't  funny,  at  all,  at 
all.  It's  the  way  he  tells  it  intirely,"  Pete  in 
sisted.  "He's  the  droll  one.  Shure,  but  I'd  like 
to  seen  him  in  th'  fight,  'longside  the  sojers,  him 
a-forgittin'  himsilf  an'  th'  ould  blood  a-risin'  up 
an',  in  want  of  a  rifle,  him  a-usin'  a  club !  " 

"  Shure,  he  prayed  for  the  shame  of  it,"  re 
turned  Mrs.  Maloney.  "  An'  I  tould  the  Bishop 
that,  an'  what  d'ye  think  he  said!  '  Mrs.  Ma 
loney,'  says  he,  *  I  wouldn't  worry.  Maybe  he 
wasn't  near  enough  to  use  his  fists.  It's  a  strange 
counthry  an'  customs  are  different.'  " 

But  Mrs.  Maloney  would  talk  right  on  through 
the  whole  book  if  permission  were  given,  and  with 
anything  Miss  Destiny  did  when  Tim  was  along 
you  may  be  sure  that  she  would  have  no  quarrel. 

"  I  will  look  after  the  young  hearts  if  you  at 
tend  to  the  great  lady,"  Theodore  Dexter  had 
said  to  the  Big  Fellow,  endeavoring  to  be  cheerful 
at  the  railroad  station. 


274  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

Willy  Sweetser  was  not  present.  In  a  telegram 
received  on  the  train,  "  Have  a  look  at  the  great 
country  you  are  passing  through  and  be  penitent," 
his  farewell  thoughts  were  spoken. 

By  the  route  which  the  pioneers  answering  Miss 
Destiny's  call  had  taken  in  their  westward  march 
ing,  the  Big  Fellow  was  traveling  across  the  Mis 
sissippi  and  the  farms  of  the  plains  to  the  higher 
levels  of  the  ranges,  over  the  Eockies  to  the  garden 
spot  on  the  other  side,  which  looks  across  the 
world's  broadest  waters.  A  few  of  his  many 
friends  scattered  through  the  country,  friends 
made,  some  of  them,  in  a  single  meeting,  who 
greeted  him  at  stopping-places,  brought  him  near 
in  feeling  to  the  common  quality  of  all  the  people 
of  his  own  land  whose  ambassador  he  was  to  be. 

"  We're  carrying  a  message  for  all  our  fellow 
Americans,  Kiddy,  you  and  I,"  he  told  his 
secretary. 

"  And  you're  just  the  one  to  carry  it,  Boss, 
too,"  said  Kiddy.  "  You're  just  like  America." 

With  all  local  associations  in  the  perspective 
now,  the  sweeping  panorama  of  States  out  of  the 
car  window  brought  Big  what  he  thought  was  a 
clearer  vision  of  another  affair.  He  had  not  re 
ceived  Ellen's  letter.  All  he  knew  was  that  she 
had  gone  away  in  Ned  Walker's  car.  Of  her 
sense  and  taste,  his  judgment  was  too  sure  to 
allow  him  any  worry  on  that  score.  In  his  heart 
was  a  sore  and  vacant  place  which  he  must  fill 
wi^h  work,  while  he  had  the  armor  of  his  laugh 
and  his  smile  to  hide  his  feelings  from  the  world. 


MISS  DESTINY  MARCHES  275 

Hard  plowing  on  a  straight  line  for  him,  and  the 
harder  the  better ! 

Could  he  believe  that  Ellen  had  failed  to  see 
the  truth  behind  the  actions  of  an  old  fellow  like 
himself  who  had  been  so  thoroughly  in  earnest? 
Did  not  this  explain  her  conduct!  Her  lack  of 
interest  in  his  journey?  Her  insistent  chatter 
that  afternoon  when  they  ascended  Big  Tree  Hill 
together!  Now  he  understood  that  she  had  not 
wanted  to  appear  ungrateful  to  her  benefactor. 
She  had  aimed  to  avoid  a  situation  where  she 
would  have  to  say  anything  to  hurt  old  Big.  In 
the  hope  of  relieving  her  of  any  fears,  he  had  writ 
ten  to  her  in  the  spirit  of  comradeship. 

If  the  knowledge  of  one  human  being,  which  he 
showed  in  this  letter,  was  an  example  of  his  knowl 
edge  of  human  nature  in  general,  then  the  judg 
ment  of  the  treaty  ports  of  China  might  be  well 
grounded.  Wherever  white  men  gathered,  in  some 
corner  of  the  doorstep  of  a  trade  route  to  the 
yellow  and  brown  millions,  ran  the  titter  of  amuse 
ment  over  the  little  red  schoolhouse.  Plymouth 
Eock  and  the  New  England  town  meetings  were 
coming  to  the  East!  How  American!  How 
vastly  amusing!  Had  not  the  British  been  learn 
ing  the  game  in  India  for  three  hundred  years! 
Did  New  England  schoolma'ams  know  more  than 
British  civil  servants! 

For  this  was  the  view  held  by  the  white  men 
in  the  regions  to  which  he  was  bound.  His  route 
of  travel  was  the  usual  one.  The  East  he  first 
saw  while  his  steamer  stopped  in  Japan,  where 


276  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

an  ancient  civilization,  broken  out  of  feudalism 
by  the  touchstone  of  foreign  relations,  had  made 
a  great  State.  The  East  he  next  saw  in  treaty- 
port  glimpses  of  the  coastal  edge  of  China,  with 
its  still  older  civilization.  But  from  China  to  the 
Mediterranean  no  government  has  ever  been 
known  except  that  of  the  autocrat  by  birth,  by 
conquest,  or  by  appointment  from  some  throne. 
And  that  is  the  great  truth  of  the  East,  so  old,  so 
very  old  and  set  in  its  thought,  which  sits  on  an 
cestral  tombs  waiting  for  life  to  pass;  in  which 
through  generations  has  never  arisen  the  idea  that 
children  could  know  more  or  do  differently  than 
their  revered  grandsires. 

Between  Hong  Kong  and  the  Red  Sea,  if  we 
may  speak  of  half  the  world  in  a  few  words,  lay 
India  and  all  the  regions  where  the  British  rule 
honestly  and  build  roads  and  bridges  in  the  op 
portunism  of  year-to-year  control,  but  have  left 
no  impress  on  the  native  mind.  To  the  South  lay 
the  islands  of  a  people  who  were  nomadic  bands 
when  Spain  came,  long  used  to  Spanish  profit- 
taking  Governors  whose  hand  was  hard — and 
this  was  the  Big  Fellow 's  destination.  In  an  in 
sular  outpost  of  that  old,  old  East  he  was  to  try 
to  establish  a  thing  new  in  half  the  world,  and 
the  thing  which  was  so  good  to  us  that  the  folks 
out  Plymouth  Rock  way  said  that  either  we  ought 
to  carry  it  with  the  flag  or  haul  the  flag 
down. 

Was  the  appointed  man  of  Miss  Destiny,  in 
whose  blood  ran  the  Constitution,  tilting  against 


MISS  DESTINY  MARCHES  277 

windmills?  His  career  and  the  success  of  an  idea 
lay  with  his  patience,  his  skill,  and  his  humanity. 
The  representatives  of  the  great  white  races  who 
live  in  the  East,  absorb  the  Oriental  faults  of 
the  masses  among  whom  they  dwell.  Our  clerk 
from  Hamburg  or  Tooting,  who  has  four  or  five 
Chinese  servants  and  owns  a  race  pony,  is  a  great 
authority.  How  could  the  wisdom  of  Uncle  Theo 
dore's  thousand  books,  from  Palestine  to  the  pres 
ent,  take  the  place  of  three  or  four  trips  out  and 
back  on  a  P.  and  0.  or  a  German  liner ! 

Into  these  communities  of  the  treaty  ports  came 
the  big  young  Governor,  with  his  happy  "  I  am 
glad  to  meet  you's,"  asking  questions  of  every 
body  he  met  in  his  friendly  way,  as  if  he  had 
known  them  a  long  time.  He  was  like  some  genial 
American  justice  of  the  peace,  they  said,  with 
none  of  the  hauteur  and  the  side  which  you  must 
have — oh,  positively  must ! — to  rule  these  Eastern 
peoples.  Out  of  their  great  experience  they 
warned  him  of  his  folly.  Fancy  the  Islanders 
learning  the  use  of  the  ballot !  Why,  they  would 
accept  kindness  as  a  weakness.  They  understood 
nothing  but  the  strong  hand.  A  governor  who 
was  not  master  would  not  be  a  governor  to  them, 
any  more  than  a  soldier  with  a  cornstalk  for  a 
rifle  would  be  a  soldier.  Did  he  think  that  the 
Tongals  of  Bar  were  farmers  of  the  Middle  West ! 
(No,  he  did  not,  by  a  long  way,  we  will  say  for 
him.)  But  the  philosophical  said  that  he  would 
learn  with  time,  as  everybody  in  the  East  had, 
the  impracticability  of  his  programme. 


278  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  You  will  see,  Governor,"  he  was  told,  "  that 
you  will  have  to  fall  back  on  the  old  methods." 

"  No!  "  he  answered.  "  I  was  sent  to  carry 
out  a  different  idea  or  I  would  not  have  come. 
It  is  not  so  many  centuries  since  we  ourselves 
thought  that  we  got  our  food  and  air  by  the  grace 
of  a  lord  of  the  manor,  who,  naturally,  tried  to 
keep  us  in  the  illusion  by  a  commanding  manner. 
Gradually  our  vision  has  widened  and  our  ca 
pacity  grown.  A  little  of  what  we  have  we  would 
transplant.  We  will  give  the  Tongals  schools; 
we  will  let  them  elect  their  own  head  men  and 
mayors;  we  will  teach  them  to  creep  first,  in  the 
hope  that  they  will  learn  to  walk.  It  may  be  a 
long  time  before  they  can  take  their  own  course 
without  our  direction,  but  that  is  for  time  to 
tell. 

"  You  say  we  will  only  sow  the  seed  of  re 
bellion?  I  can't  believe  that  will  prove  true  in 
the  end.  The  pupil  will  not  always  misunder 
stand  a  patient  and  honest  teacher.  I  don't  think 
human  nature  can  be  so  different  in  Bar  but  it 
will  respond  in  self-interest  to  benefits  bestowed." 

Yes,  he  was  a  most  provoking  optimist,  this  son 
whom  Madame  Mother  had  sent  out  to  look  after 
the  foundling,  and  smiling,  even  laughing,  as  he 
rushed  into  the  arms  of  the  gods  who  would 
destroy  him.  Our  clerk  from  Tooting  would 
like  to  see  him  and  his  little  red  schoolhouse 
after  he  had  been  on  the  job  for  two  years. 
The  big  American  would  be  lucky  if  he  escaped 
assassination. 


MISS  DESTINY  MARCHES  279 

But  some  far-seeing  merchants  and  students 
and  governors  were  less  inclined  to  sneer.  They 
were  only  scrutinizing  and  skeptical  and  too  con 
scious  of  the  slightness  of  opportunism's  control 
of  the  mighty  powers  that  the  countless  millions 
might  unloose  to  be  cocksure  of  anything.  And 
was  that  knight  who  tilted  against  the  windmills 
altogether  ignoble!  Didn't  you  like  him?  The 
treaty  ports,  whose  opinion  was  worth  while,  had 
to  like  the  Big  Fellow. 

Miss  Destiny  trying  out  an  unselfish  ideal — to 
salve  her  conscience  for  too  hasty  a  leap,  if  you 
will — with  her  face  set,  is  little  minded  to  look 
up  the  gossips  or  the  old  herb  doctors  for  advice. 
The  Big  Fellow  was  as  unconscious  of  the  chatter 
about  his  inexperience  and  nai've  inadequacy  as 
a  battleship  of  foam  bubbles  spinning  out  from 
its  screw.  If  all  the  talk  of  the  China  coast  had 
been  in  his  praise,  it  would  not  have  been  worth 
as  much  to  him  as  the  cablegram  he  received  on 
the  eve  of  the  last  stage  of  his  journey. 

Willy  Sweetser,  you  must  know,  had  had  a 
change  of  heart,  such  a  change  as  such  a  heart 
as  Willy's  was  bound  to  have.  With  money  in 
the  cashier's  drawer  of  The  Sentinel  to  pay  for 
the  shot,  he  did  not  allow  a  rate  of  one  dollar 
and  seventy-five  cents  a  word  to  blue-pencil  his 
feelings : 

"  Did  my  best  to  keep  you  from  going.  You 
went.  Duty  done.  I  failed.  Have  been  thinking. 
Light  breaks.  Apologies,  salaams.  Governors, 
islands,  judges,  brownies,  tropical  gold  bricks  not 


THE  BIG  FELLOW 

interfere  with  true  friendship.  Editorial  to-day 
Jim  Harden  will  fix  that  island  business.  Trust 
him.  All  needed  was  right  man.  Circulation 
booming.  Studying  law  hard.  Three  tutors. 
Trying  to  be  wise,  but  prefer  you  on  tap.  Hurry 
up,  Big,  and  finish  job.  Make  you  Governor  real 
State.  Two  years  limit  allow  you  stay.  Plan 
ning  visit  you.  Theodore,  Mrs.  Billings  well. 
Love.  Willy." 

We  have  the  word  of  Kiddy  Witherbee,  who 
keeps  the  record,  that  the  Governor  of  Bar 
danced  around  and  around  the  table,  shouting  in 
abandoned,  rollicking  glee.  His  friend,  his  best 
friend,  was  won  back. 

"  More  power  to  you.  Welcome  to  the  bar. 
You  can't  visit  me  too  soon.  You're  stuffing 
your  old  Olympus  with  muscle  for  fray,"  he 
cabled  in  answer.  "  You  and  Theodore  eat 
Jerry's  to-night  and  think  of  me  " — as  they  did, 
ten  thousand  miles  away. 


XXVI 

HIS   WELCOME   TO   BAR 

NOW,  with  their  temperate  zone  chrysalis  of 
wool  packed  in  their  trunks,  the  Big  Fel 
low  and  Kiddy,  clad  in  their  tropical  cotton 
suits  bought  at  a  treaty  port,  were  carried  south 
ward  by  a  cruiser  of  the  white  navy  to  seas  and 
skies  that  became  a  lighter  blue  as  the  sun  grew 
hotter.  On  the  shores  of  the  islands  among 
which  they  passed,  they  saw  a  darker  and  richer 
green  than  they  had  known  before  and  rows  of 
cocoanut  palms  where  the  pearly  foam  of  the  surf 
licked  the  sandy  beaches ;  and  on  the  fourth  morn 
ing  the  mountains  of  Bar  appeared  out  of  the 
mist. 

The  seamen  began  to  prepare  one  of  the  steam 
launches  to  disembark  the  passengers;  but  this 
was  unnecessary.  That  speck  alone  on  the  waters 
on  approaching  proved  to  be  a  small  gunboat  of 
a  hundred  tons'  burden,  with  two  Colt's  rapid-fire 
forward  and  two  three-pounders  aft.  Boiling  to 
the  long,  low  swell  the  U.  S.  S.  Paktowan,  Ensign 
Roger  Clancy  commanding,  came  smartly  along 
side  and  received  the  new  Governor  and  his  sec 
retary  aboard.  A  dapper,  boyish,  round-faced 
youngster  was  Clancy,  who  supplied  his  guests 

381 


282  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

with  the  only  two  chairs  on  his  diminutive 
quarter-deck. 

"  You'll  have  to  move  about  with  the  sun  and 
sit  close  to  each  other, "  said  he,  "  or  you'll  get  out 
of  the  shade  of  that  postage  stamp  of  an  awning." 

"  In  case  your  engines  break  down,  I  should 
think  you  might  use  a  napkin  for  a  sail,"  said  the 
Governor,  cheerily. 

"Yes,  if  it  was  reefed  she  could  carry  it," 
Clancy  answered.  "  But  she's  the  navy  of  Bar, 
sir,  at  your  service,  and  I'm  her  admiral,  who'll 
hear  nothing  against  her." 

The  Governor  thought  that  he  and  Clancy 
would  get  on  first  rate  together. 

' '  How  are  things  on  the  island  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  They're  pretty  bad.  Old  General  '  Prairie 

Fire's  '  still  swearing "  and  then  Clancy 

stopped,  impulsively. 

"  General  who?  "  pursued  the  Big  Fellow. 

"  General  Strong,  sir." 

Clancy  would  not  be  drawn  any  further. 

"  Just  forget  I  said  that,  sir.  My  business  is 
not  to  call  names,  but  to  patrol  the  rivers  and 
the  coast,  with  an  eye  to  filibusters,  and  to  be 
ready  to  fight  any  time  I'm  wanted.  That's  all, 
sir.  And  after  you  have  looked  around  I'll  be 
glad  to  answer  any  and  all  questions  as  intelli 
gently  as  I  can.  And  your  navy  is  in  a  most  ef 
ficient  state,  Governor,"  said  the  Lord  High  Ad 
miral  of  the  five  bays  of  Bar,  not  to  mention  the 
many  streams. 

When  the  Americans  occupied  the  island  they 


HIS  WELCOME  TO  BAR  283 

had  found  the  Pdktowan,  a  rusty  piece  of  junk, 
stalled  in  the  mud.  Clancy  asked  the  Admiral  if 
he  might  have  her  provided  he  could  make  her 
run,  and  the  Admiral  gave  his  consent.  So  the 
Ensign  had  patched  and  doctored  her  till  she 
was  a  great  command,  to  his  mind's  eye. 

It  was  an  incident  in  her  varied  career,  and 
Clancy  enjoyed  all  incidents,  to  introduce  the  new 
Governor  to  his  island.  As  they  steamed  toward 
the  harbor,  out  of  its  massy  green  shores  devel 
oped  the  roofs  and  the  white  house-sides  and 
the  cathedral  tower  of  Takar.  From  what  he 
had  heard  and  what  Clancy  had  said,  the  Big  Fel 
low  had  not  expected  a  hearty  welcome,  but  he 
had  only  half  guessed  how  cold  an  official  recep 
tion  can  be. 

The  Paktowan  proceeded  up  the  turbid  Takar 
Eiver,  from  which  the  capital  took  its  name, 
to  the  landing-place,  which  was  only  a  few  steps 
from  the  plaza.  Here  the  General  commanding 
and  his  staff  and  the  officers  of  the  garrison  were 
in  waiting  with  two  companies  of  the  Sixty-fifth, 
a  rigid  line  of  white  faces  and  khaki  on  the  back 
ground  of  white  clothes  dotted  by  a  hundred  or 
more  brown  faces. 

One  of  the  natives,  a  boy  of  sixteen  or  seven 
teen,  had  edged  ahead  of  the  others,  his  moon  face 
and  soft  black  eyes  full  of  up-gazing  wonder  at 
this  fair-haired  giant.  Big,  not  yet  weaned  from 
the  habits  of  home,  where  man-service  is  dear,  by 
the  habits  of  the  East,  where  man-service  is  cheap, 
came  ashore  carrying  his  suit-case.  Benito  may 


284  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

have  been  drawn  on  by  the  Governor's  stature 
or  by  his  smile;  at  any  rate,  the  Governor,  as  he 
spoke  to  the  General,  felt  a  hand  next  to  his  on 
the  handle  and  heard  a  shrill  voice  say,  "  I 
carry  him,"  and  the  case  was  out  of  his  grasp. 

"  Here,  you — imp,  get  out  of  that!  "  said  the 
General,  reaching  for  Benito,  who  adroitly 
dodged. 

"  I  carry  him,  Great  Bigness.    No  want  pay!  ' 
Benito  appealed  to  the  big  smile  above  his  head. 

' l  All  right !  Go  ahead !  You  carry  him,  my 
boy,"  said  the  Governor,  who  was  being  intro 
duced  to  the  officers. 

Father  Tim  Maloney,  in  khaki,  with  a  cross  on 
his  shoulders,  had  meant  to  wait  his  turn;  but 
the  Big  Fellow  spied  him  with  a  hearty,  "  Well, 
how  are  you,  Tim  I  Are  you  tongue-tied?  "  Tim 
was  well,  blue  eyes  dancing  with  humor. 

Two  rattle-trap  carriages  had  been  provided, 
and,  with  the  troops  as  escort,  the  Governor  and 
the  General  and  his  staff  drove  into  the  oblong 
plaza,  with  its  double  rows  of  palms  in  the 
center,  the  cathedral  at  one  end,  the  Government 
Palace  at  the  other,  and  the  barracks  and  shops 
and  residences  of  the  well-to-do  along  its  long 
sides.  The  people,  most  of  them  in  native  attire, 
their  shirts  hanging  outside  their  trousers,  and 
some  of  a  lighter  complexion,  telltale  of  Spanish 
blood,  in  European  cut  of  duck,  looked  on  disin 
terestedly  or  loweringly. 

There  was  little  curiosity,  except  when  they 
remarked  the  size  of  the  newcomer  and  compared 


HIS  WELCOME  TO  BAR  285 

him  to  the  giant  soldier  of  the  General's  staff, 
Major  Staton.  No  shout  of  welcome  came  from 
their  lips ;  no  sign  of  welcome  was  in  their  faces. 
The  Governor  felt  that  but  for  the  row  of  bay 
onets  he  might  be  put  aboard  the  first  steamer,  if 
the  charitable  had  their  way,  or,  more  likely,  shot 
on  the  spot  by  will  of  the  majority. 

The  troops  came  to  rest  at  the  foot  of  the  steps 
of  the  big  building  from  which  the  island  had 
been  ruled  by  Spain,  and  within  the  Bishop  of 
the  diocese  and  some  local  officials  received  the 
Governor  with  Spanish  politeness,  while  he  was 
thinking  how  he  would  ever  reach  the  hearts  and 
minds  concealed  by  those  expressionless  Oriental 
faces.  This  roomy,  unhomelike  Palace,  with 
hardwood  floors  and  bare  walls,  he  was  to 
occupy  alone.  If  Ellen  had  only  come  with  him ! 
But  why  should  she?  He  always  became  argu 
mentative  when  these  unbidden  thoughts  which 
would  not  down  appeared.  Why  should  he  have 
brought  her  to  this  isolated  island,  with  no  out 
look  and  no  diversion,  except  a  problem  which 
most  of  the  world  thought  un worth  solving! 

Instead  of  playing  the  sorrowful  knight,  he  had 
better  be  getting  acquainted  with  the  men  of  the 
island  who  were  friendly  or,  at  least,  had  come 
to  pay  their  respects.  If  the  General  failed  to 
introduce  him  to  any  of  the  officials  and  leading 
citizens,  Father  Tim,  ubiquitous,  talkative,  the 
life  of  the  party,  made  good  the  neglect.  Thus 
we  come  to  a  group  of  new  characters,  each  of 
which  is  to  play  a  part  in  the  Big  Fellow's  career 


286  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

and  Ellen's,  while  the  old  characters  in  the  home 
land  may  not  be  forgotten.  He  catalogued  them 
at  once  as  a  cabinet  of  first  influences. 

No.  1.  General  "  Prairie  Fire  "  Strong,  who 
received  his  sobriquet  from  the  Indians  in  his 
younger  days  in  the  Sioux  campaign.  He  was 
fat,  bald,  red-faced,  with  a  bristling  moustache, 
and  suffered  much  from  the  heat.  His  position 
as  a  military  autocrat  was  endangered  by  the 
arrival  of  a  civil  governor  who  was  to  cooperate 
with  him.  Against  this  outrage  he  had  been  talk 
ing  ever  since  he  heard  the  news.  His  whole  idea 
of  a  campaign  was  Indian  tactics.  It  is  said  that 
Mrs.  Staton,  wife  of  the  Major,  who  formally 
denied  the  allegation,  once  remarked  that  the 
prairie  fire  found  the  jungle  too  moist  and  green 
to  burn.  A  brave  man  gone  to  seed,  the  General 
was  now  complaining  and  garrulous.  He  drank 
heavily,  but  not  more  heavily  than  he  swore.  His 
profanity  the  wits  of  the  garrison  had  classified 
in  five  strings.  He  fired  No.  1  string,  and  some 
times  No.  2  string  in  intervals  between  the  blasts 
of  No.  1,  when  in  a  great  rage.  As  the  situation 
demanded,  the  other  strings  were  used,  No.  5 
being  amiably  conversational  and  supplying  the 
place  of  a  discriminating  adjectival  vocabulary. 

No.  2.  Felipe  Guzman,  the  Spanish  Bishop  of 
the  island,  in  canonicals  of  spotless  white,  with  a 
voice  whose  softness  belied  his  face,  which  was 
fat  in  keeping  with  his  person,  while  his  eyes, 
having  a  peculiar  wall  effect,  never  seemed  to 
look  into  yours.  It  was  to  him,  he  said,  a  source 


HIS  WELCOME  TO  BAR  287 

of  great  gratification  that  statecraft  should  have 
its  turn.  Statecraft  should  go  hand  in  hand  with 
strong  measures,  which  were  the  most  merciful 
under  existing  conditions.  The  natives  were  chil 
dren,  with  half-formed  minds.  They  had  mis 
taken  liberty  for  license,  and  as  a  father  to  them 
he  hoped  for  a  consistent  policy.  For  any  meas 
ure  of  self-government  they  were  quite  unfit. 

No.  3.  Don  Luiz  Cortina,  called  by  the  natives 
* '  The  Thinker, ' 7  a  slight,  short  man  with  a  smooth 
face,  an  aquiline  nose,  bright  little  eyes,  and  white 
teeth,  with  thin  lips  drawn  over  them.  He  had 
a  slight  impediment  of  speech  and  a  halting  of 
one  leg  when  he  walked.  In  blood  he  could  have 
been  only  a  quarter  native.  A  lawyer,  once  a 
Spanish  official,  again  an  agitator  against  the 
Spaniards,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of 
Salamanca,  he  was  known  as  the  best  educated 
man  in  the  Islands.  His  attitude  was  one  of 
scholastic  disinterestedness  and  he  seemed  to 
agree  generally  with  the  Bishop,  though  once, 
when  neither  the  Bishop  nor  the  Governor  was 
looking,  he  gave  the  Bishop  a  glance  of  hate  and 
his  teeth  showed  catlike  under  his  drawn  lips. 
But  he  was  a  man  of  many  hates,  and  soon  the 
Governor  was  to  be  numbered  among  them. 

No.  4.  Eugene  Willard  Parkowitz,  the  leading 
hemp  dealer  and  foreign  merchant.  A  pronounc 
edly  British  subject,  he  spoke  with  a  decided 
English  accent,  was  confident  of  His  Excellency's 
success,  hoped  that  things  could  be  kept  quiet  for 
the  hemp  season,  and  was  convinced,  from  his  ex- 


288  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

perience  in  India,  that  a  little  "  side  "  was  very 
important  in  keeping  down  the  natives.  Parko- 
witz's  British  firm  often  reminded  him  to  keep 
out  of  politics  and  not  to  trade  with  the  insur- 
rectoes.  He  was  suspected  of  both  offenses. 

No.  5.  Major  Edward  Staton,  about  to  receive 
his  number  as  Lieutenant- Colonel ;  tall,  well  built, 
known  as  "  Eamrod  '  to  the  natives,  and  as 
the  "  brains  of  the  staff  "  to  the  army;  a  silent 
man,  except  when  with  Mrs.  Staton,  as  they  talked 
things  over  in  their  rooms. 

No.  6.  William  Winterburn  Worth,  missionary 
of  the  Society  of  the  Word,  no  larger  than  the 
average  Tongal  himself,  with  a  pleasant  voice 
and  a  quick,  nervous  manner.  He  was  Parko- 
witz's  favorite  joke.  "  Another  example  of  the 
half-baked  missionary  fools  who  couldn't  earn 
their  living  at  home,"  expressed  the  view  of  that 
old  Eastern  expert  over  his  whisky  and  soda. 
"  A  disturbing  element,"  said  the  Bishop.  "  I 
like  the  little  man,  I  do,  bless  him!  "  said  Father 
Tim. 

No.  7.  Arthur  Thompson,  a  young  American 
mining  engineer,  who  was  interested  in  the  coal 
mines  of  the  island. 

No.  8.  George  Horswell,  a  young  Australian, 
Parkowitz's  assistant,  whom  Parkowitz  had  tried 
in  vain  to  have  the  firm  discharge.  His  superior 
had  led  him  an  unpleasant  life,  and  he  and  Thomp 
son  were  fast  friends,  both  hoping  for  "  some 
thing  better  "  when  the  island  was  pacified: 

And  Father  Tim  we  know.    Two  other  charac- 


HIS  WELCOME  TO  BAR  289 

ters  not  present,  for  a  very  evident  reason,  may 
as  well  be  mentioned  at  once.  Campo,  a  full- 
blooded  native,  was  the  head  of  the  insurrecto 
forces  in  the  field.  Pardo  was  a  brigand  chief, 
an  iconoclast,  who  took  orders  from  no  one  and 
fought  after  his  own  fashion.  Could  you  have 
known  the  native  inner  circle,  you  would  have 
heard  it  whispered  that  Cortina 's  were  the  brains 
back  of  Campo. 

All  eight  of  that  catalogue  of  first  influences, 
and  all  the  others  of  which  they  were  typical,  de 
pended  for  their  presence  upon  the  bayonet,  the 
Governor  saw.  Was  there  no  one  to  speak  for 
those  brown  and  forbidding  faces  he  had  seen 
in  the  street?  Was  there  no  full-blooded  native 
friend  of  America?  he  asked  the  General,  and  the 
General  took  the  Governor  to  headquarters  to 
show  him  the  lone  Tongal  in  the  whole  benighted 
island  who,  in  the  General's  words,  was  worth 
the  powder  to  blow  him  to  the  hell  place. 

"  Enrico,  the  new  Governor,  Mr.  Harden!  r 
said  the  General,  introducing  a  young  Tongal  in 
khaki,  who  sprang  up  from  his  desk  with  military 
precision. 

'  '  Excellency !  ' '  breathed  Enrico,  bowing  to  the 
knee. 

"  Enrico  fought  me  once,  didn't  you,  Enrico?  " 
(String  No.  5,  the  amiable  one.) 

"  Yes,  General,"  with  another  bow. 

"  Yes,  he  fought  well,"  continued  the  General. 
"  Now  he  is  for  me.  Now  you're  good  Indian, 
eh?  " 


290  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  Yes,  General,  I  am  very  happy.  I  love  my 
new  country,  America!  "  with  the  bow. 

"  IVe  put  him  on  salary.  I  tell  you  he  gets 
me  more  information  than  all  the  staff.  He  talks 
with  the  natives  and  comes  and  tells  me,  don't 
you,  eh?  " 

"  Yes,  General.  It  is  a  great  honor  if  I  can 
help  you  against  your  enemies,"  with  the  punc 
tilious  bow. 

"  And  I'll  tell  you,  by  (String  No.  3) !  "—here 
the  General  was  giving  the  civil  authorities  still 
another  one  of  the  thrusts  which  the  Governor 
had  heard  smiling, — "  he  knows  his  place.  He's 
no  town-meeting,  agency,  good-as-you-are  Indian. 
He  doesn't  think  he  ought  to  mess  with  the  offi 
cers.  You  know  your  place,  and  you  keep  it,  eh, 
Enrico?  " 

"  Yes,  General.  You  are  my  benefactor  who 
teaches  me  everything,"  with  the  bow. 

There,  by  the  jumping,  hyphenated  profanities 
— Strings  Nos.  3  and  4, — you  had  one  loyal  native 
and  the  only  one  on  the  whole  damned  island 
that  ought  to  be  sunk  and  washed  of  all  the  bare 
backed,  hornet  human  kind  that  called  it  theirs. 
Yes,  by  the  Almighty! 

You  could  not  help  enjoying  Prairie  Fire  if 
you  looked  at  him  in  the  right  light,  a  quality 
which  the  Governor  had  infinitely,  or  he  could  not 
have  remained  in  such  invariable  good-humor. 
That  evening  when  he  went  to  his  room  he  found 
that  he  had  a  native  follower  of  his  own.  The 
moon-faced  boy  who  asked  to  carry  the  Big  Fel- 


HIS  WELCOME  TO  BAR  291 

low's  suit-case  had  unpacked  his  trunk  and  laid 
out  a  suit  of  white  on  the  bed. 

' '  I  look  after  you !  You  let  me  look  after  you, 
Great  Bigness!  No  pay.  Little  rice,"  said  he 
to  the  giant  who  held  his  imagination  captive. 

"  All  right!  Go  ahead!  You  seem  to  know 
pretty  well  how  to  do  it!  "  said  Big. 

The  highest  of  Benito's  privileges  was  to 
dust  the  Governor's  desk,  which  was  to  him 
a  kind  of  throne.  It  was  a  broad,  flat-topped 
desk  of  native  hardwood  in  the  end  of  a  series 
of  three  great,  high-ceilinged  rooms,  with  shining 
hardwood  floors  and  windows  and  casements  al 
ways  open  to  let  in  any  vagrant  breeze  that  rip 
pled  the  heat  of  the  day.  Over  it,  on  the  rear 
wall,  had  been  the  portrait  of  a  former  Spanish 
Governor.  He  was  quite  a  famous  man,  this  Gov 
ernor,  who  drove  a  thousand  natives  into  the  sea 
as  a  punitive  measure.  That  portrait  the  Big 
Fellow  removed  to  the  hall,  and  in  its  place  he 
put  a  steel  engraving  of  Lincoln. 

Here  he  held  audience  for  all  who  would  come 
of  their  own  volition  or  at  his  call.  Evidence  on 
which  he  thought  he  could  rely  one  day  was  con 
founded  by  that  of  the  next.  Boss  Birch  seemed 
a  jewel  of  simplicity,  directness,  and  truth  com 
pared  to  the  Presidentes  with  whom  he  had  to 
deal.  But  there  was  one  most  important  Presi- 
dente  he  had  not  met  yet — the  Presidente  of  Toll, 
whom  the  natives  called  Don  Francisco  in  a  way 
to  attract  the  Governor's  attention. 

"  A  disturber/'  said  the  Bishop, 


292  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

' '  A  man  of  strength,  but  always  against  any 
government  and  hypocritical, "  said  Dr.  Cortina. 

"  Damned  rebel!  "  said  the  General. 

"  A  good  business  man,  but  ought  to  be  exiled, " 
said  Parkowitz. 

' i  A  full-blooded  native,  with  much  power 
among  the  natives  and  against  us,"  from  Major 
Staton,  when  pressed;  for  he  was  careful,  as  a 
member  of  the  General's  staff,  not  to  express  pri 
vate  opinions. 

Meanwhile,  all  the  news  the  Governor  had  from 
that  trailless  land,  infested  with  hate,  was  of 
many  small  fights,  bitter  and  vindictive,  and  of 
plotting  native  leaders  with  the  dangerous  little 
education,  who  incited  rebellion  with  argument 
and  with  threats  of  assassination  and  collected 
taxes  when  khaki  backs  were  turned. 

1 1  We  have  the  Americans  beaten !  ' '  they  whis 
pered  in  at  the  doorways.  "  The  white  giants 
grow  weary.  Their  people  at  home  will  no  longer 
bear  the  expense.  Yes,  countrymen,  and  we  have 
good  news  from  America.  Here  is  what  their 
statesmen  say!  You  may  read  it  yourselves,  or 
we  will  read  it  for  you.  l  Keep  on  fighting  and 
you  will  be  free/  they  say.  Now,  as  a  last  resort, 
the  tyrants  in  power  in  America  have  sent  a  big, 
soft,  unknowing  man  who  palavers.  Doesn't  that 
show  that  they  are  afraid?  Having  failed  to  find 
us  with  rifles,  he  would  draw  us  into  the  open  and 
trick  us  with  smiles !  And  remember,  if  they  win 
they  will  treat  you  like  negroes — as  we  treat  the 
negrito  dwarfs  of  the  mountains !  7 ' 


HIS  WELCOME  TO  BAR 

A  people  bearing  in  blood  and  in  spirit  the 
Spanish  memory,  saw  a  new  set  of  rulers  with 
out  Spanish  politeness.  Every  brown  face  smiled 
a  polite  greeting,  learned  from  Spain,  and  every 
native  hand  was  secretly  against  the  Americans. 
Reprisals  bred  reprisals.  Treachery  had  made 
the  men  in  khaki  in  the  jungle,  whose  temples  beat 
with  the  heat  and  dull  resentment  over  comrades 
boloed  in  the  dark,  indiscriminate  when  anything 
clad  in  a  white  shirt  appeared  in  front  of  them. 
They  were  fighting  an  enemy  which,  in  the  phrase 
of  Prairie  Fire,  would  not  "  stand  up  to  be 
killed;  "  enemies  who  hid  their  rifles  on  the  col 
umn's  approach,  stood  so  many  gaping  peasants 
as  it  passed,  and  straightway  became  imps  under 
cover  of  night. 

When  the  Governor  tried  to  explain  that  a  bet 
ter  regime  was  to  come,  a  veil  seemed  to  be  drawn 
over  the  native  mind.  After  weeks  in  the  capital, 
sore  with  baffling  experience,  he  made  a  tour. 
From  the  thickets  the  people  came  to  the  towns 
and  villages  to  look  on  the  American  giant  as 
they  would  at  a  show.  He  told  them  of  how  they 
were  to  elect  their  own  mayors  and  councilmen 
and  what  this  meant;  of  how  teachers  were  com 
ing  from  home  to  teach  them  English  and  arith 
metic  and  writing,  so  they  would  know  how  to 
govern  themselves.  But  they  asked  no  questions, 
they  exhibited  no  interest,  while  they  made  Span 
ish  bows  and  distrusted  all  pretensions  after  their 
experience  with  Spanish  proclamations. 

Parkowitz,  local  type  of  the  clerk  from  Tooting, 


294  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

was  laughing  in  his  sleeve  and  quoting  the  words 
of  the  poet  about  the  East  being  the  East  sneer- 
ingly  to  the  little  foreign  colony. 

"  White  solidarity  and  a  superior  manner  the 
Americans  must  learn,"  he  said,  "  and  I  doubt  if 
they  have  the  savey,  you  know,  anyway.  As  for 
this  Governor,  I  fancy  he'd  do  very  well  in  Amer 
ica,  where  everybody  is  better 'n  anyone  else,  you 
know. ' ' 

The  Big  Fellow  returned  to  the  capital  de 
pressed,  but  not  discouraged.  Not  a  single  man, 
so  far  as  he  knew,  had  he  really  convinced  of  his 
sincerity,  while  at  home  everyone  seemed  to  take 
his  sincerity  for  granted.  The  one  Presidente, 
Francisco  Martinez,  of  Toll,  whom  he  had  most 
wanted  to  meet  had  been  absent  in  a  distant  prov 
ince,  buying  hemp. 

"  If  I  could  only  get  a  single  real  native,  a 
leader  among  his  people, "  as  the  Governor  said 
to  Kiddy,  in  talking  of  the  situation,  "  who 
knew  how  to  reach  them,  that  would  be  a  be 
ginning."  He  paced  up  and  down  the  hard 
wood  floors,  making  them  creak.  "  We  are  right 
and  we  must  win  in  the  end;"  and  after  another 
turn:  "  The  schools  will  help."  In  blue  moments 
he  always  harked  to  them.  "  They  will  reach  the 
children.  I  have  great  hope  of  the  teachers,  and 
they  will  be  here  soon." 

Why  not  ask  Benito  about  this  man  of  Toll? 
Usually,  Benito 's  only  answer  to  any  question 
was :  "  I  no  know  politics.  I  work  for  you,  Great 
Bigness."  But  at  mention  of  Martinez  the  first 


HIS  WELCOME  TO  BAR  295 

disciple,  as  the  Governor  called  Benito,  broke  into 
a  torrent  of  words : 

"  Don  Francisco!  There  is  a  man!  "  Benito 
cried.  "  Don  Francisco  he  all  Tongal  like  me! 
No  Spaniard!  Not  little  drop  of  Spaniard!  He 
can  fight  like  I  do,  and  I  can  fight,  too,  Great 
Bigness!  " 

Benito  squared  his  shoulders  soldier-fashion 
and  dramatically  opened  his  shirt : 

"I  get  this  fighting/7  he  said.  "  It  not 
hurt,  it  come  so  quick.  It  only  sting  like  an  insect 
bite  and  I  fall  down,  and  I  get  well  again." 

He  pointed  to  the  little  white  spot  on  his  breast 
where  a  Krag  bullet,  fired  by  the  soldiers  of  the 
first  landing  party,  had  passed  through  his  chest. 
What  chases,  what  marching,  what  weariness 
there  had  been  since  that  day! 

"  Don  Francisco,  that  old  man  he  is  savage — 
he  is  the  strongest  one  in  Bar.  A  Spanish  officer 
and  Don  Francisco's  daughter — yes — and  Don 
Francisco,  who  deal  in  the  hemp  and  harm  no 
body,  he  kill  that  officer;  yes,  and  he  make  war 
and  he  make  war  so  hard  the  Spaniard  he  make 
peace.  Anything  he  would  do,  this  old  man,  who 
look  so  simple  and  so  calm!  He  fight  against 
you,  Great  Bigness,  for  his  people.  I  fight  with 
you,  Great  Bigness,  yes,  because  I  see  your  laugh 
and  smile,  oh,  so  big !  and  you  are  a  man  that  act 
good,  just  like  the  proclamation  read  good. 

"  Oh,  the  proclamation  from  the  Spanish- 
proclamation,  proclamation,  so  beautiful  and  the 
men  so  bad,  who  do  nothing  in  the  proclamation ! 


296  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

How  can  my  people  believe  you  are  different,  as 
I  do?  No,  no !  Don  Francisco  he  not  believe.  He 
prepare;  he  think,  so  calm,  that  old  man.  He 
make  war  by  and  by;  yes,  Great  Bigness.  You 
watch  him!  He  not  afraid!  He  not  run  away! 
He  fight  hard  when  the  time  come.  I  no  know 
politics !  I  serve  you !  ' '  and  he  went  on  putting 
clothes  in  a  drawer. 

Don  Francisco  was  worth  knowing  and  worth 
winning,  the  Big  Fellow  thought ;  but  he  would  not 
send  for  him,  he  concluded.  No.  It  were  better 
that  the  meeting,  which  was  bound  to  happen, 
were  of  Don  Francisco 's  own  volition.  With  only 
an  occasional  question  about  the  old  Presidente  of 
Toll,  the  Governor  kept  on  listening  to  the  Gen 
eral,  the  Bishop,  and  the  other  special  pleaders. 
He  little  knew  of  the  bargain  for  rifles  that  Parko- 
witz,  upholding  white  men's  solidarity,  was  driv 
ing,  or  of  the  visits  of  the  only  loyal  damned  one 
in  all  the  damned  island  with  his  budgets  of 
news  of  military  plans  to  the  house  of  Dr.  Cortina, 
that  sleepless  one,  who  sent  his  unsigned  mes 
sages  far  and  wide  and  relished  the  new  order 
of  leniency  as  an  opening  for  great  things. 


XXVII 

THE   SECOND   DISCIPLE 

BENITO,  Guardian  of  His  Great  Bigness  and 
by  himself  so  named,  sat  at  the  entrance 
of  the  Palace,  a  motionless,  squatting  fig 
ure  on  a  mat,  pulling  a  punka  and  watching  with 
half-closed  eyes,  through  the  blazing  light  of  the 
square,  the  sentry  of  the  Sixty-fifth  pacing  slowly 
in  front  of  the  barracks,  mango  vendors  listless 
or  napping  in  the  shade  of  the  cathedral  with  its 
splotches  of  moss-grown  walls,  and  a  carabao 
with  a  melancholy,  pendulous  stride  drawing  a 
cart  along  the  street. 

Presently,  around  the  corner  came  a  thick-set, 
elderly  native  under  the  shade  of  a  large  um 
brella.  His  appearance  was  that  of  some  well- 
to-do  merchant  or  small  planter  of  the  rural  dis 
tricts  who  had  not  fallen  into  the  habit  of  the 
European  cut  of  duck.  He  was  sturdy  of  build, 
with  a  bronzed  skin  pockmarked,  though  not  un 
pleasantly,  high  cheekbones,  thin  lips,  and  an 
open  manner  that  was  winning.  Somewhat  hesi 
tatingly  he  went  up  the  steps  of  the  Palace. 
The  absence  of  any  functionary  in  uniform  made 
him  doubtful  if  these  eccentric  Americans  had 

297 


298  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

not  chosen  a  new  entrance  to  the  Governor's 
chambers. 

"  I  am  the  Presidente  of  Toll,  senor,  the  young 
keeper  of  the  door,"  he  said,  with  a  Spanish  bow, 
"  and  I  hope  you  find  yourself  well." 

It  might  be  worth  while  to  get  a  little  in 
formation  from  the  boy  before  proceeding,  he 
concluded. 

"  You  have  come  to  see  the  Governor?  "  asked 
Benito.  "  The  Kiddy  of  His  Great  Bigness  is  in 
side.  He  is  the  true  keeper  of  the  door." 

But  Don  Francisco  did  not  act  on  the  sug 
gestion. 

"  They  say  this  newcomer  is  larger  than  any 
two  Spaniards — larger,  even,  than  the  Major 
Staton." 

"  He  is  the  Great  Bigness, "  Benito  answered, 
enigmatically.  "  Did  you  not  see  him  when  he 
went  to  Toll?  " 

"  No.    I  was  away  buying  hemp." 

"  Buying  hemp?  '  Benito  spoke  with  a  trace 
of  the  rising  inflection,  never  lifting  his  eyelids, 
and  continuing  to  pull  the  rope  that  kept  the 
hanging  fan  of  cloth  moving  back  and  forth  over 
the  Governor's  desk. 

"  Yes,  buying  hemp!  "  the  old  Presidente  re 
peated,  softly.  "  All  through  the  land  they  are 
talking  of  him.  They  say  he  has  a  laugh  which 
makes  the  palm  leaves  shuckle,  but  it  is  not  the 
laugh  of  thunder;  it  is  the  laugh  of  cheer.  Some 
say,  too,  that  it  is  the  laugh  of  the  surface  of 
things  and  of  little  understanding." 


THE  SECOND  DISCIPLE  299 

"It  is  the  laugh  of  His  Great  Bigness,"  an 
swered  Benito. 

'  '  They  say  he  wears  no  uniform  except  a  white 
suit  and  he  shakes  hands  with  everybody,  walks 
about  without  an  orderly,  and  anybody  may  go 
in  to  see  him.  How  can  he  really  be  a  Governor?  " 

"  He  is  the  Great  Bigness." 

"  How,  then,  do.es  he  rule!  " 

"  With  the  laugh,  with  this,"  and  Benito  laid 
his  hand  on  his  heart,  "  and  with  these,"  Benito 
pointed  to  his  eyes.  "  It  will  be  well  for  you, 
O  Seiior  Presidente  of  Toll!  to  watch  the  eyes 
closely.  And,  senor,  the  Great  Bigness  can  also 
be  the  Great  Anger." 

"  They  say,  when  he  walks  up  and  down  of 
nights,  that  the  floors  creak  like  the  bamboo  clus 
ter  in  a  storm  and  the  Palace  shakes." 

"  The  church  would  shake  if  his  eyes  should 
will  it, ' '  Benito  said.  "  He  is  the  Great  Bigness. ' ' 

"  You  answer  not  my  questions.  You  are  deep 
for  a  boy." 

"  He  is  the  Great  Bigness — this  answers  all 
questions!  " — as  it  did  for  Benito.  "  I  know  him 
well." 

Who  should  know  him  better?  Did  not  Benito 
insist  on  sleeping  on  a  mat  outside  the  Big  Fel 
low's  door?  which  was  no  hardship  in  a  land 
where  nearly  everybody  sleeps  on  a  mat  on  the 
floor,  and  the  few  who  do  not,  sleep  on  one  drawn 
taut  between  the  four  posts  of  a  bed. 

"  He  is  the  Great  Bigness,"  Benito  kept  on, 
with  monkish,  prayer-wheel,  Eastern  monotony. 


300  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  You  cannot  measure  him  or  think  of  him  the 
way  you  say.  But  I  no  know  politics.  I  serve 
His  Great  Bigness,  who  is  like  the  proclamations 
read." 

"  Like  the  proclamations  read!  "  repeated  the 
old  man,  smiling  to  himself.  "  All  servants  are 
faithful  to  the  bread  of  their  masters, "  he 
thought. 

I  i  Yes,  like  the  proclamations  read !    Here  is  the 
Kiddy.    Speak  with  him,  the  true  keeper  of  the 
door. ' ' 

Kiddy  Witherbee,  dapper  in  his  suit  of  duck, 
appeared  in  the  doorway,  and  Benito,  who  had  not 
stopped  pulling  the  punka,  went  on  watching  the 
sentry. 

I 1  I  came  to  pay  my  respects  to  His  Excellency, 
the  Governor, "  said  Senor  Francisco  Martinez. 
"  I  am  the  Presidente  of  Toll.     I  missed  him, 
senor,  when  he  was  at  Toll  on  his  way  to  the 
northern  provinces,  as  I  was  away  buying  hemp." 

Yet  another  reason  had  kept  the  Presidente 
from  being  present.  Something  in  his  nature  re 
volted  at  fawning  on  the  head  and  front  of 
oppression.  Curiosity,  born  of  the  many  stories 
of  the  Big  Fellow  he  had  heard,  in  part  brought 
him  to  the  Palace.  Another  factor  was  that 
he  knew  that  his  absence  from  Toll  had  made  him 
a  marked  man  in  the  mind  of  one  Major  Staton. 

Kiddy  welcomed  him  as  respectfully  and  benefi 
cently  as  a  Yamen  runner  would  receive  a 
mandarin. 

"  I  am  glad,  indeed,  sir,  to  know  you,"  said 


THE  SECOND  DISCIPLE  301 

that  wise  secretary.  "  The  Governor  will  be  most 
pleased.  He  wants  to  meet  you  and  talk  with 
you,  I  know.  The  Bishop  is  with  him  now,  but 
I  don't  think  he  will  stay  much  longer.  Won't 
you  come  in  and  have  a  chair  ?  ' ' 

Kiddy  stood  to  one  side  to  let  the  Presidente 
enter  his  own  office,  but  just  then  the  Bishop,  fat 
and  slow-moving,  came  out  of  the  Governor's 
chamber.  His  wall  eyes  looked  to  Don  Francisco 
as  if  expecting  an  obeisance  and  met  a  glance  of 
unblinking,  serene  dislike.  After  he  had  passed, 
the  old  Presidente,  a  good  Catholic,  crossed 
himself. 

"  He's  not  any  Bishop  to  me!  "  he  said  to 
Kiddy,  with  a  frankness  that  was  a  startling  de 
parture  from  the  habit  of  polite  Tongalese  indi 
rection.  "  But  I  like  your  Padre  Maloney;" 
which  was  no  surprise  except  in  its  further  ex 
pression  of  candor  from  a  Tongal.  "  I  said  to 
him,  when  my  people  win  their  independence  I 
hope  they  may  have  many  priests  like  you." 

"  The  Governor  is  an  old  friend  of  Father 
Maloney 's  father,"  said  Kiddy,  making  use  of 
a  diplomatic  opportunity  as  he  opened  the  swing 
ing  doors. 

As  they  entered,  the  Big  Fellow's  face  lighted 
with  that  spontaneous  pleasure  which  never 
seemed  to  abate,  whether  it  was  friend  or  stranger 
who  came.  From  every  visitor  he  hoped  for  some 
information  that  would  help  him  in  his  work. 

i '  Don  Francisco !  I  want  to  know  you !  I  want 
to  have  a  long  talk  with  you!  " 


302  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

The  old  Presidente  of  Toll  had  made  a  bow, 
but  not  an  obeisant  one,  as  he  announced  himself 
with  a  serene  dignity.  Yes,  this  new  Governor 
was  immense,  bigger  than  any  man  he  had  ever 
seen;  and  that  smile  of  which  he  had  heard  was 
neither  Spanish  nor  formal,  but  generous  and 
pervasive;  and  that  hand  that  came  out  to  meet 
his  had  a  grip  that  did  not  let  go,  but  drew  the 
visitor  in  pleasant  welcome  to  a  seat  beside  the 
desk. 

"  When  you  honored  Toll  with  your  presence 
it  was  my  ill  fortune  to  be  absent  buying  hemp/' 
the  Presidente  said. 

"  Then  it  is  my  good  fortune  to  have  a  visit 
from  you  now,"  the  Governor  responded.  "  I 
have  heard  many  stories  to  your  credit.  You 
were  not  afraid  to  make  war  when  you  had  a  just 
cause. ' ' 

"  I  fought  for  my  family  honor,"  Don  Fran 
cisco  observed,  discreetly.  "  This  was  before 
the  Americans  came,  with  different  ideals  from 
the  Spaniards." 

The  Big  Fellow  began  to  ask  most  surprising 
questions  about  Toll.  He  remembered  the  names 
of  leading  citizens.  He  knew  which  land  grew 
the  best  hemp.  All  his  "  talk  it  over  together  " 
talent  was  genially  in  play,  while  the  old  Presi 
dente  studied  this  new  species  covertly.  Di 
rectly,  he  heard  the  happy  laugh,  with  its  true 
and  natural  ring,  while  his  own  experienced  eyes 
watched  the  Governor's,  of  a  different  color  than 
those  to  which  he  was  used.  They  puzzled  him 


THE  SECOND  DISCIPLE  303 

with  their  clear  grey.  But  the  big  man's  heart? 
That  was  the  third  thing  which  Benito  had  men 
tioned.  That  was  the  thing  you  might  not  see. 

"  By  pleasant  words  while  his  soldiers  kill," 
thought  the  Presidente  of  Toll.  "  When  there  is 
peace  the  words  will  not  be  pleasant.  Then  we 
will  be  negroes.  Yes,  an  old  man  like  myself 
can  see  ahead." 

Presently  two  more  callers  appeared.  Gen 
eral  Prairie  Fire  Strong  shook  the  old  Presi 
dente  's  hand  gingerly. 

"  Not  late,  I  hope,  Governor,"  he  said,  mop 
ping  his  brow.  "  Talk  about  the  hinges  (String 
No.  5) — they  may  stick  on  in  hell,  but  they're 
melted  off  here!  What  we  ever  wanted  to  take 
this  (String  No.  3)  country  for  I  can't  see." 

"  The  Major  here  is  a  little  jealous,"  the  Gov 
ernor  said  to  Don  Francisco,  introducing  Staton. 
"  He  is  only  second  biggest,  now." 

But  the  Major,  who  was  young  and  active  and 
went  among  the  provinces  a  good  deal,  already 
knew  the  old  Presidente,  whom  he  greeted  warmly, 
receiving  in  return  an  appreciable  glance  of  ad 
miration,  if  not  of  favor.  Then  Don  Francisco 
made  his  bow  to  the  Governor,  accepting  the  ar 
rival  of  the  officers  as  a  signal  that  it  was  time  for 
him  to  withdraw. 

"  Excellency,  I  thank  you  for  your  politeness. 
I  wish  you  good  health,"  he  said,  still  discreetly, 
for  he  could  not  honestly  wish  the  Governor 
success. 

1 1  Oh,  no !    We  don't  let  our  visitors  go  away  at 


304  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

tiffin  time,  Don  Francisco.  Here,  put  another 
place,  Chang, "  said  the  Governor  to  the  Chinese 
boy,  who  had  just  announced  luncheon. 

"  Al-li."  Chang  had  learned  by  experience  al 
ways  to  have  two  or  three  extra  places  ready. 

What  did  this  new  Governor  mean,  inviting  him 
to  the  family  meal  with  General  Prairie  Fire 
in  as  friendly  a  way  as  if  they  were  neighbors? 
Don  Francisco's  recollection  flew  back  to  the 
night  in  the  field  when  he  had  been  asked  to  dine 
with  the  staff  by  one  of  its  members  and  the 
General  had  refused  to  eat  with  him.  The  next 
day  he  had  begun  to  buy  rifles  for  the  "  men  out 
in  the  long  grass." 

"  You  invited  me  to  tiffin,  too,  Governor!  "  the 
General  said,  sharply.  Here  was  a  principle  for 
which  he  had  stood,  and  Mrs.  General  even  more 
valiantly,  when  he  was  military  Governor. 

"  Of  course.  We're  five,  with  Kiddy.  Don't 
worry,  General.  There'll  be  curry  enough  to 
go  around,"  returned  the  Big  Fellow,  "  and  Don 
Francisco  can  tell  us  a  lot  about  Toll." 

Red  and  angry,  the  General  straightened  him 
self  in  the  best  military  manner  that  his  cor 
pulency  and  sagging  shoulders  would  permit. 

"  This  is  a  social  and  not  an  official  matter," 
he  muttered,  thickly,  "  and,  by  (String  No. 
1),  I  never  did  sit  down  to  eat  with  a  nigger,  and 
never  will !  ' 

"  Pardon,  Governor,  pardon!  "  Don  Fran 
cisco  picked  up  his  hat  and  umbrella,  and  he 
spoke  most  politely,  if  grimly,  his  lips  closing 


THE  SECOND  DISCIPLE  305 

on  his  words  in  a  thin,  ashy  line.  But  the  Gov 
ernor  put  his  hand  on  the  old  man's  shoulder  to 
restrain  him  and  Don  Francisco  saw  something 
in  the  grey  eyes  he  had  not  seen  before. 

"  General,  if  any  customs  due  to  race  asso 
ciation  at  home  influence  you  in  this  matter,  let 
me  say  that  Don  Francisco  is  a  Tongal  and  less 
a  negro  than  many  a  Spanish  grandee. " 

"  They're  all  niggers  to  me  and  it's  time  to 
teach  them  their  places.  Come  on,  Staton !  ' '  the 
General  commanded  from  the  doorway. 

Staton,  always  stiff  of  figure  from  West  Point 
training  in  spite  of  himself,  seemed  to  be  con 
sidering.  A  slight  flicker  of  disgust  with  his 
superior  may  have  passed  over  his  face.  His 
square  jaw  indicated  that  he  could  have  and  hold 
an  opinion  of  his  own.  On  this  occasion  he 
stood  between  loyalty  to  the  General  and  his 
convictions. 

"  As  you  say,  General,  it  is  a  social  and  not 
an  official  matter,"  the  Governor  remarked, 
quietly.  "  Major,  I  hope  you  will  stay." 

"  I  certainly  will.  I  want  to  talk  with  Don 
Francisco."  The  Major  spoke  as  quietly  as  the 
Governor. 

"  Tring-trang-thir-r-r !  "  sang  the  swinging 
blind  doors,  as  the  General,  hammering  the  hard 
wood  with  his  heels,  passed  along  the  hall.  He 
went  immediately  to  Mrs.  General.  A  "  nigger  " 
invited  to  tiffin  by  the  Governor !  His  own  Major 
insubordinate !  This  was  what  came  of  the  town- 
meeting  business !  This  was  what  came  of  send- 


306  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

ing  out  politicians!  There  would  be  a  massacre 
one  day  in  this  island  that  the  world  would  re 
member!  He  took  a  liberal  drink  of  rye,  which 
only  made  his  face  the  redder,  while  he  choked  in 
his  rage  over  the  cold  chicken  which  Mrs.  General 
served  him. 

But  to  return  to  the  Presidente  of  Toll.  He 
had  not  failed  to  notice  the  phenomenon  that  the 
Major  took  his  cue  from  the  Governor.  It  was 
not  unpleasant,  either,  to  take  tiffin  seated  on 
the  right  hand  of  His  Great  Bigness.  Another 
place  was  made  for  the  Lord  High  Admiral  of  the 
hundred-tonner,  who  came  in  at  the  last  moment. 

"  How's  the  navy?  "  the  Governor  asked. 

"  Topping!  If  you'll  give  me  enough  grease 
I'll  run  the  Paktoivan  up  to  the  square  so  you 
can  see  her  from  the  window.  Does  well  enough 
on  the  level;  not  enough  horsepower  for  hill 
climbing.  I  went  over  a  bar  yesterday  where 
you  could  see  the  sand  above  the  water.  Jumped 
it!  I'll  teach  her  to  take  a  hurdle  yet." 

The  Governor  laughed  heartily.  He  always 
liked  to  have  Clancy  drop  in.  For  one 
thing,  Clancy  reminded  him  of  Willy  in  im- 
petuousness  of  spirits;  for  another,  he  liked 
to  keep  a  close  eye  on  the  Ensign  for  any  signs 
of  mischief.  There  was  no  more  telling  what 
the  Lord  High  Admiral  might  do  with  the  Pak 
toivan  than  what  The  Hummer  might  do  with  The 
Sentinel. 

"  I  suppose  the  navy,"  put  in  Major  Staton, 
"  is  claiming  that  the  Paktoivan  is  doing  all  the 


THE  SECOND  DISCIPLE  307 

work  and  not  admitting  that  the  army  is  pres 
ent,  at  all/7 

11  No,  Major.  How  could  we  when  we  tow  the 
army  about  from  place  to  place  and  watch  it  get 
seasick?  "  Without  waiting  for  any  reply  from 
the  Major,  Clancy  turned  smartly  to  the  Gov 
ernor  for  the  object  of  his  call.  "  I  got  clear 
to  Laglag  with  her  yesterday,  Governor." 

1 '  The  deuce  you  did !  Aren  't  you  going  to  eat 
any  tiffin!  " 

"  No.  I'll  tiffin  aboard,  thanks,  after  we're 
under  way.  If  you  're  willing — and  I  believe  I  can 
do  it — I  shall  try  to  take  her  up  to  Toll." 

"  To  Toll!  "  queried  the  Presidente,  with  a 
covert  glance  at  Clancy. 

"  The  Admiral  gave  me  carte  blanche,  sir,  as 
you  know,"  Clancy  continued.  "  But  as  this  is  a 
kind  of  exploring  trip  and  a  civil  matter  I  thought 
I'd  ask  you." 

"  No  wonder.  If  he  hadn't,  like  Lord  Nelson 
you'd  take  it!  "  said  the  Governor. 

"  Never  can  tell  when  you'll  need  information, 
sir.  Once  I  have  made  the  trip  I'll  be  able  to 
go  a-humming  if  I'm  needed." 

' '  All  right ;  but  mind,  no  mischief — no  fight 
ing!  " 

"  No,  sir,  thank  you.  Good-by,  Don  Fran 
cisco;  "  and  the  Lord  High  Admiral  of  the  hun- 
dred-tonner  bolted. 

She  was  a  devil,  that  little  gunboat,  as  the 
Presidente  knew  by  reputation.  Around  the  bend 
of  a  stream  she  would  come,  and  then  rat-tat-tat 


308  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

from  her  Colt's  automatic — and  look  out,  unless 
you  wanted  a  line  of  holes  punched  across  your 
anatomy. 

Don  Francisco  did  not  again  betray  his  deep 
curiosity  as  to  whether  or  not  she  could  navigate 
to  Toll.  With  his  napkin  tucked  under  his  chin 
he  was  smiling  benignly  and  laboring  with  his 
knife  and  fork  tentatively.  It  was  pleasant  to 
sit  between  the  army  and  the  navy  in  the  coun 
cils  of  state;  yet  flattery  would  not  fool  him, 
he  told  himself.  He  was  too  old  a  hand. 

"  Excellency,  may  I  ask  you  some  questions?  ' 
he  said.     "  There  is  much  that  puzzles  between 
the  benevolent  assimilation  and  the 

"  Killing/'  assented  the  Governor.  "  Ask  any 
questions  you  please,"  which  was  also  surprising. 

"  In  your  country  does  the  General  Strong 
come  from  what  you  call  the  more  aristocratic 
family — more  aristocratic  than— 

"  More  aristocratic  than  the  Major's  or  mine, 
you  mean?  "  the  Governor  asked,  divining  what 
lay  behind  the  inquiry. 

"  Yes,  yes,  if  you  please.  I  would  not  be  im 
polite,  Excellency,  and  I  do  not  know  the  Ameri 
can  customs." 

*  *  Ask  me  questions  all  the  afternoon  and  I  will 
answer  them,"  the  Governor  responded,  in  ex 
pansive  enthusiasm.  "  Yes,  and  answer  them 
all  night."  For  at  last  he  had  met  something 
besides  polite  indirection.  At  last  he  had  met  an 
inquiring  mind.  "  I  don't  know  the  General's 
family;  do  you,  Major?  " 


THE  SECOND  DISCIPLE  309 

"  No.  I "  the  Major  began,  and  his  eyes 

met  the  Governor's  in  a  glance  which  Don  Fran 
cisco  did  not  fail  to  note.  He  smiled  a  little  to 
himself.  He  was  having  a  most  enjoyable  tiffin. 

' '  And  in  America  is  it  true  that  the  Secretary 
of  War,  he  does  not  wear  a  uniform?  " 

"  Yes,  it  is  quite  true." 

"  Ah!  '  He  shook  his  head  wonderingly. 
"  And  is  it  true  that  he  is  not  a  soldier?  " 

"  He  is  not  a  soldier.  He  is  appointed  by  the 
President." 

"Ah!  And  the  President,  he  is  elected  by  the 
army  I  " 

"  No,  by  the  people." 

"  And "  but  the  Presidente  of  Toll,  as  he 

came  to  the  point  of  his  questioning,  forgot  to 
take  care  in  the  use  of  unfamiliar  tools.  With 
a  sudden  "  Ph-h-h!  "  he  put  his  handkerchief 
up  to  his  mouth. 

"  Excellency,"  he  spluttered,  "  the  fork  I  do 
not  know  and  I  am  very  stupid;  but  the  knife 
is  so  sharp.  The  Spaniards  complain  of  the 
same  thing  about  the  English  knife." 

"  Try  the  Tongal  way,"  said  Kiddy  Witherbee, 
true  and  solemn  diplomatist.  "  Fingers  are  bet 
ter  for  rice.  Use  them,  by  all  means." 

This  made  Don  Francisco  more  at  ease  as  a 
trencherman ;  but  he  determined  to  learn  not  only 
how  to  load  the  fork  with  rice,  but  to  bear  it  with 
out  loss  of  cargo  in  transit  to  the  destination. 
If  others  could,  why  not  he  with  practice?  He 
would  show  these  Americans  that  he  could  be 


310  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

as  well  mannered  as  they.  But  first  he  would 
show  the  Governor  that  he  was  no  fool.  Now 
he  asked  that  poser  he  had  in  mind  when  the 
accident  occurred : 

"  And  why  don't  the  officers  put  in  whoever  they 
want  for  the  President  till  another  army  is  raised 
to  beat  them?  " 

To  the  clerks  in  the  War  Department  this  sug 
gestion  that  the  Chief  of  Staff  march  over  with 
a  regiment  and  take  possession  of  the  White 
House  is  preposterous  enough.  But  to  make  the 
Presidente  understand  this  was  another  thing. 
The  civilization  that  he  knew  rested  on  the  basis 
of  armed  power. 

"Why,  they  don't!  They  couldn't!  It  is 
against  the  law!  "  Even  the  Governor  was  mo 
mentarily  thrown  out  of  administrative  equilib 
rium.  "  There  was  Lincoln,  one  of  our  Presi 
dents,  for  example."  He  turned  toward  the 
portrait  visible  in  his  office. 

"  Oh!  That  is  the "  Governors  were  Ex 
cellencies  and  Presidents  were  not  Majesties,  Don 
Francisco  had  heard,  but  they  must  be  something 
" — the — the  Honorable  Lincoln!  "  he  concluded. 

"  Yes.  Lincoln  was  once  Commander-in-Chief 
of  a  million  armed  men,  prepared  with  all  the 
munitions  of  war." 

"  Didn't  he  wear  a  uniform?  "  Official  power 
without  a  uniform  was  scarcely  believable.  It 
was  like  being  civilized  without  wearing  clothes. 
It  was  against  custom  and  precedent. 

"  No.    When  his  term  was  about  to  expire,  for 


THE  SECOND  DISCIPLE  311 

the  sake  of  the  work  he  was  doing  he  wanted  to 
succeed  himself.  Yet  he  had  to  go  to  the  people 
and  get  a  majority  of  all  their  votes  for  re 
election." 

This  was  a  pretty  big  one  for  the  Presidente 
of  Toll  to  swallow.  He  was  inclined  to  think  that 
the  Americans  had  their  ways  of  lying,  with  the 
same  intent  as  the  Spanish  ways — to  deceive  and 
control  the  natives. 

61  Why,  Excellency,  why?  I  do  not  wish  to  be 
impolite,  Excellency,  but  you  said  I  might  ask 
questions.  Ah!  " — perhaps  this  was  the  real  ex 
planation — "  did  some  other  man  that  wanted  to 
be  the  President  have  a  big  army,  too?  " 

"  No.    His  was  the  only  army." 

"  Why  did  he  not  say  to  the  people,  I  choose 
to  stay?  How  could  they  have  stopped  him?  " 

"  They  could,  easily." 

"  They  could?  "  This  was,  of  a  truth,  too 
much.  "  Does  not  the  army  obey?  The  army  in 
Takar  does."  Don  Francisco  leaned  forward 
with  real  Occidental  show  of  interest.  Perhaps  he 
had  struck  on  the  reason  for  the  report  that  soon 
a  new  party  would  be  "in  power  "  in  America. 
The  insurrectoes  had  only  to  keep  on  fighting, 
he  had  heard,  to  make  a  change  of  American 
Presidents. 

"  No.  They  would  not  obey.  The  law,  the  Con 
stitution,  would  not  permit.  All  that  is  bred  in 
us  as  Americans  would  not  permit.  Congress 
would  not  permit.  The  soldiers  would  have  con 
cluded  that  the  President  was  mad  or  would 


312  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

have  laughed  at  him — but  wait !  Let  me  explain 
this  more  slowly." 

It  was  nothing  to  be  cynical  about  in  the  dawn 
ing  days  of  the  twentieth  century,  this  picture  of 
the  Big  Fellow  trying  to  put  the  essence  of  the 
thousand  books  and  all  the  meaning  of  the  com 
plex  system  of  upgrowth  of  constitutional  gov 
ernment  from  its  English  origin  in  civil  control, 
which  is  second  nature  to  us,  into  comprehensible 
form  for  a  mind,  touched  with  no  outside  inter 
est  except  Spanish  colonial  policies,  which  had 
spent  all  its  days  in  a  little  barrio  of  the  hot, 
out-of-the-world  island  of  Bar. 

Kiddy  Witherbee  went  to  say  to  callers  that 
the  Governor  was  engaged,  and,  unless  they  pre 
ferred  to  wait  and  take  their  chances,  probably 
they  would  be  wiser  to  come  to-morrow.  Plow 
ing,  plowing,  plowing!  Beginning  at  the  founda 
tion  of  the  great  thing  he  would  expound,  the 
Governor  kept  on  with  his  exposition,  answering 
all  questions  with  genial  patience.  He  was  try 
ing  as  hard  to  win  the  Presidente  of  Toll  to  his 
side  as  he  had  tried  to  win  Hiram  Hobber,  on 
another  occasion.  The  pity  is  that  Hiram  could 
not  be  present  to  observe  his  protege  "  on  the 
heathen  job!  " 

"  The  corruption!  There  is  a  great  deal  of  it 
in  the  American  cities, "  the  persistent  objector 
continued,  repeating  what  he  had  heard  from 
Parkowitz  and  Cortina.  "  They  buy  the  voters." 

"  Yes,  there  is  corruption,"  the  Governor  re 
turned.  "  You  see,  Don  Francisco,  we  have  not 


THE  SECOND  DISCIPLE  313 

finished.  We  are  working,  ourselves.  Only  we 
are  a  little  further  ahead  than  you.  We  would 
like  to  give  you  the  advantage  of  what  we  have. 
We  will  be  the  book;  you  will  have  to  be  the  life 
and  experience,  yourselves.  Though  there  is 
corruption,  it  can  be  stopped  by  the  citizens.  The 
power  is  all  with  them,  without  firing  a  shot. ' ' 

"  The  constitutional  rights  of  the  minority!  " 
mused  the  old  Presidente.  That  phrase  which 
the  Governor  had  used  more  than  once  in  his  ex 
planation  stuck  in  Don  Francisco's  mind.  "  Did 
not  the  Honorable  Lincoln,  with  his  army  of  a 
million  men,  ever  abuse  the — the  constitutional 
rights  of  the  minority!  "  He  repeated  the  phrase 
in  full,  as  if  it  were  a  talisman. 

i  i  No.  He  would  not.  In  fact,  Congress  and  the 
checks  and  balances  I  have  been  explaining  made 
it  impossible,  had  he  chosen  to." 

"  The  Honorable  Lincoln  was  a  very  remark 
able  man,"  Don  Francisco  said,  tentatively,  de 
termined  not  to  be  drawn  into  praise  of  any 
American  statesman  against  his  will.  "  I  would 
like  to  look  at  the  Honorable  Lincoln  closer." 

It  was  four  o'clock.  They  had  been  three  hours 
at  the  lesson.  Major  Staton,  a  listener,  who  had 
sent  word  to  the  barracks  that  he  was  detained, 
followed  the  Governor  and  his  guest  into  the 
other  room,  still  inclined  to  remain  as  long  as 
there  was  no  sign  that  he  was  out  of  place.  Don 
Francisco  looked  steadfastly  at  the  portrait  of  the 
great  President. 

"  The  Honorable  Lincoln  has  a  good  face," 


314  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

he  concluded.  "  It  is  most  different  from  the 
Spanish  Governors' — very!  Was  the  Honorable 
Lincoln  born  of  the  aristocracy  that  made  him 
become  so  powerful?  I  should  like  to  hear  how 
it  was  he  rose  and  who  his  people  were.  But, 
Excellency,  I  have  made  the  questions  like  the 
child.  I  thank  you  for  your 

"  No.  I  am  here  just  for  this  thing.  Please 
stay!  "  the  Governor  responded.  "  I  will  tell  you 
about  Lincoln. " 

In  chairs  on  the  shady  side  of  the  broad 
veranda  overlooking  the  square,  with  the  length 
ening  shadow  of  the  cathedral  lying  across  its 
blaze,  the  Big  Fellow  talked  about  Lincoln's 
youth,  which  he  was  able  to  do  most  convincingly. 
When  he  stopped  the  old  man  looked  at  the  Gov 
ernor  frankly  and  said,  suddenly: 

"  Excellency,  you  have  been  frank  with  me.  I 
will  be  frank  with  you.  I  was  not  buying  hemp. 

I  went  to  the  coast  to  arrange  for  a  cargo  of 
rifles." 

"  Yes,  so  I  knew,"  the  Governor  returned. 

II  Or,  at  least,  I  had  it  from  the  Major." 

The  Presidente  gave  the  Major  another  glance 
of  admiration.  A  second  thought  made  him 
ashamed  of  his  perspicacity.  The  big  Governor 
was  hypnotizing  him. 

"  How,  if  you  knew  it — how  is  it  that  you 
do  not  arrest  me?  '  he  asked,  suddenly.  Of 
course  they  had  not  known  it.  They  said  so  to 
make  believe  they  had.  He  had  been  giving  his 
position  away.  They  would  never  let  him  out  of 


THE  SECOND  DISCIPLE  315 

town  now.  Why,  they  were  not  children!  Here 
he  was  speaking  straight  to  the  point  according 
to  the  rule  these  Americans  taught,  instead  of 
around  the  bush  and  down  in  the  well,  and  they 
had  drawn  him  into  their  own  game  and  trapped 
him. 

11  We  had  not  the  evidence  to  convict,"  said  the 
Governor. 

"  But  with  your  army  you  could  have  thrown 
me  into  jail.  You  could  have  applied  the  water 
cure !  ' '  and  he  thought  of  General  Prairie  Fire. 

"  That  would  have  done  no  good  in  the  end, 
without  the  evidence."  It  was  automatic  the 
way  the  Big  Fellow  reasoned.  There  was  some 
thing  easy  and  simple  about  his  system.  It  did 
save  a  lot  of  traveling. 

61  Besides,  you  wouldn't  have  landed  the  rifles," 
the  Major  said,  "  not  unless  the  Paktowan  blew 
up  and  the  legs  of  the  men  of  Company  B  were 
paralyzed. ' ' 

This  Major — he  was  the  silent  one.  He  was 
the  army  that  obeyed  the  man  without  uniform, 
who  did  not  arrest  a  man  who  was  buying  rifles. 
Don  Francisco  was  in  the  midst  of  strange  things. 

"  I  walked  to  Toll  once  from  Takar,  between 
eleven  at  night  and  seven  A.M.,"  Staton  added,  to 
change  the  subject. 

"  You  walked!  "  The  Presidente  was  amazed, 
even  after  all  he  had  heard  of  American  march 
ing.  But  the  Major  looked  quite  equal  to  the 
task. 

"  Yes.      That's    better    than    liver    medicine. 


316  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

When  I  arrived  in  the  outskirts  of  the  town  I 
bought  something  to  eat  of  a  woman  who  kept 
a  little  shop  and  then  fell  sound  asleep  under  a 
tree  where  I  had  sat  down,  and  it  was  noon  when 
the  woman  woke  me." 

The  muscles  of  the  Presidente's  mouth 
twitched.  There  were  some  things  he  knew  that 
the  Major  did  not  know.  He  could  return  news 
for  news. 

"  If  she  had  not  waked  you,  you  would  have 
been  boloed,"  he  said.  "  She  remembered,  Major, 
how  you  brought  a  broken-legged  boy  in  from 
the  jungle.  The  fellow  in  the  bush,  he  did 
not  care  to  face  your  revolver  when  you  were 
awake. ' ' 

Staton  said  gratefully  that  he  would  thank  the 
woman  some  day.  Then  there  was  a  spell  of 
silence.  Don  Francisco  was  looking  at  his  hands 
and  weaving  his  fingers  together. 

"  Excellency,"  said  he,  "  when  we  first  heard 
of  the  Americans'  coming  we  thought  that  you 
were  to  deliver  us  of  all  our  troubles.  Then  we 
heard  that  you  were  going  to  stay  and  organize 
us  into  working  gangs  to  make  money  for  the 
trusts.  Spain's  authority  had  gone.  The  wild 
element  gathered  into  bands.  The  sober  citizens 
tried  to  keep  the  peace,  while  we  awaited  the  ar 
rival  of  your  troops.  When  they  came,  the  Gen 
eral  Prairie  Fire  he  was  in  command.  The  sober 
people  began  to  believe  that  all  that  the  agitators 
had  said  was  true." 

"  Are  we  exploiting  you  when  we  are  keeping 


THE  SECOND  DISCIPLE  317 

Chinese  contract  labor  out?  "  asked  the  Big 
Fellow. 

61  No.  That  is  true" — and  therein  lay  the  real 
animosity  of  Parkowitz.  "  You  would  make  it 
Bar  for  the  Tongals." 

"  Yes,  it  is  your  land.  You  must  be  pro 
tected  until  you  have  developed  efficiency. " 

Don  Francisco  exhibited  a  skepticism  which 
might  have  been  called  well-bred  if  he  were  of 
Fifth  Avenue. 

"  But  do  you  do  this  just  for  the  love  of  man 
kind!  "  he  asked.  Such  altruism  was  not  in  his 
mental  horizon.  "  I  know  not  American  human 
nature.  Our  people  cannot  believe  that  you  have 
no  dark  and  selfish  aim." 

"  Yes,  a  very  dark  and  selfish  aim,"  laughed 
the  Governor.  ' l  If  you  develop  and  succeed  you 
cannot  do  so  without  helping  others." 

The  old  man  was  silent.  Unused  brain  cells 
were  coming  into  play. 

"  I  see!  "  he  said,  finally.  "  If  I  grow  more 
hemp  I  will  buy  more  goods.  Everybody  pros 
pers.  If  I  grow  bayonets  I  will  buy  only  powder 
— and  powder  does  not  pay.  And,  Excellency,  I 
have  another  question.  Will  you  send  away  Gen 
eral  Prairie  Fire!  " 

11  That  is  for  the  President  to  say.  The  Gen^ 
eral  is  under  the  President's  command,"  was  the 
answer.  i  i  I  hope  to  get  along  with  fewer  troops, 
and  I  am  learning." 

Don  Francisco  nodded  to  himself  affirmatively, 
his  brow  lowering. 


318  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  General    Prairie    Fire    he    makes    recruits. 

He  is  easily  fooled.    He "  and  the  old  man 

stopped  himself.  Anyone  taking  note  of  Major 
Staton  would  have  noticed  that  he  was  gripping 
the  arm  of  his  chair  rigidly.  But  he  said  nothing. 

11  Still  another  question,  Excellency,  if  you 
please."  This  was  the  pivotal  inquiry.  "It  is 
the  priests.  Have  you  seen  the  Bishop?  Should 
a  bishop  have  so  many  children  as  he  has  ?  These 
men  are  not  priests.  In  this  out- of -the- world 
place  we  are  forgotten,  and  one  religious  order 
farms  out  these  islands.  If  you  are  here  for  our 
good,  why  do  you  not  send  away  the  bad  priests 
and  let  us  have  the  good  priests,  Excellency?  " 

"  In  America  a  Governor  knows  no  church. 
His  power  is  temporal.  That  of  the  church  is 
religious." 

A  government  that  could  not  order  away 
priests!  This  was  a  corollary  to  the  practice 
of  a  Governor  who  did  not  wear  a  uniform. 

"  Excellency,"  he  asked,  with  a  show  of  fire, 
"  will  you  support  these  priests  with  your 
bayonets?  ' 

"  I  will  protect  them  only  when  their  lives  are 
in  danger." 

"  You  will  not  make  us  go  to  church  to  priests 
that  are  polygamists?  " 

"  No." 

The  old  man  took  his  points  slowly.  He  would 
not  go  on  to  the  next  until  the  preceding  one  was 
clear  in  his  mind.  Now  he  considered  this  one 
a  long  time.  His  cigar  went  out.  Playing  the 


THE  SECOND  DISCIPLE  319 

witness  rather  than  the  pleader,  the  Governor 
waited  on  him. 

"  Your  idea  of  the  religion,"  Don  Francisco 
said,  when  he  broke  the  silence,  "  is  that  it  is  a 
matter  between  a  man's  soul  and  himself,  is  it 
not,  Excellency?  It  is  the  thing  of  his  hereafter. 
Government  is  for  this  earth,  to  let  him  work  in 
peace  and  sleep  without  thought  of  being  boloed, 
and  for  training  the  head.  But  the  soul  he  must 
arrange  for  himself,  as  he  pleases.  Yes,  I  see.  It 
seems  simple  and  wise,  yes,  and  far  away  from 
Bar  and  strange." 

Again  he  lapsed  into  thought,  weaving  his 
fingers  in  and  out  slowly,  preoccupied  and  grim. 

"  The  constitutional  rights  of  the  minority!  " 
he  repeated,  getting  the  phrase  correct  and  com 
plete  and  confident  that  he  had  it  for  good.  t  i  The 
majority  can  do  only  what  the  law  says.  We  go 
to  the  courts,  Excellency,  instead  of  buying  rifles 
and  sharpening  our  boloes.  We  do  all  the  fight 
ing  with  our  heads.  Excellency,  you  would  teach 
us  these  things  and  protect  us  while  we  learn 
them?  Excellency,  they  may  assassinate  me,  but 
I  think  I  am  doing  my  best  for  our  island.  I  am 
at  your  service." 


XXVIII 


IN  a  few  hours  the  Big  Fellow  had  learned 
more  of  the  native  mind  from  Don  Francisco 
than  from  all  the  catalogued  personalities  of 
first  influences  since  he  had  been  on  the  island. 
Looking  back  over  his  experience,  it  seemed  to  him 
that  he  had  enjoyed  no  first  meeting  and  no  first 
talk  with  a  man  as  much  since  Theodore  Dexter 
had  taken  him  across  the  street  from  The  Beacon 
office  to  the  Promised  Land.  But  how  was  he  to 
make  use  of  this  new  disciple  who  was  to  be  his 
spokesman  to  the  Tongalsf  He  answered  this 
question  by  proposing  the  governorship  of  the 
province  of  Takar. 

Don  Francisco  was  astounded.  Did  he  hear 
aright?  Was  he,  who  had  confessed  himself  a 
rebel,  really  being  offered  a  place  which  had  never 
been  held  by  anyone  except  a  Spaniard  or  a  half- 
breed! 

"  Yes,  by  giving  you  Takar  I  shall  have  you 
near  me.  We  can  consult  together, "  the  Gov 
ernor  explained. 

' i  It  is  a  great  honor  you  do  me,  Excellency," 
Don  Francisco  responded;  and  the  old  man  was 
silent,  thinking  of  the  personal  triumph  of  holding 

320 


WANTED,  A  CHARMING  LADY  321 

that  office  which  had  been  beyond  his  dreams. 
"  But,  Excellency,"  he  continued,  after  a  space, 
"  it  would  not  make  the  good  politics  for  me  to 
accept.  You  are  a  little  too  much  like  the  Honor 
able  Lincoln  to  understand  the  Tongals.  All  my 
enemies  would  say  that  having  failed  with  the  rifle 
you  now  use  the  dollar.  They  would  say  you  had 
bought  the  Presidente  of  Toll  and  must  have  paid 
a  good  price  for  him." 

"  Suppose  they  do,"  answered  the  Governor, 
"  we  cannot  stop  slander.  Time  will  prove 
the  truth  and  all  their  talk  will  react  on  the 
slanderers." 

"  Yes,  Excellency,"  mused  Don  Francisco, 
"  but  I  would  not  like  to  leave  my  Toll  and  my 
people.  I  would  like  to  begin  by  teaching  the 
American  idea  in  Toll  first. ' ' 

This  pleased  the  Governor. 

1 '  I  see !  You  would  make  Toll  a  nucleus  for  our 
wopk,"  he  said. 

"  Yes,  nucleus!  "  Here  was  a  new  word  for 
Don  Francisco.  He  repeated  it  to  get  the  hang 
and  sound  of  it.  "  Yes,  nucleus  for  the  constitu 
tional  rights  of  the  minority.  Is  that  right, 
Excellency?  " 

"  It  is,  perfectly.  And  you  will  hold  a  munici 
pal  election  at  once?  " 

' '  So  I  think,  Excellency.  I  will  tell  my  people 
that  I  shall  run  for  Mayor,  myself,  and  I  think  my 
people  will  vote  for  me,"  concluded  that  boss  of 
Toll,  serenely. 

"  Without  doubt  you  are  the  one  for  Mayor. 


322  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

But  you  must  let  the  people  talk  over  candidates 
among  themselves  and  choose  their  own  council- 


men." 


"  Yes,  yes,  Excellency."  Don  Francisco  smiled 
knowingly,  and  the  Governor  was  glad  to  see  that 
smile;  for  he  feared  that  his  second  disciple  was 
to  be  a  graven  image,  and  in  times  of  stress  even 
more  than  times  of  cheer,  Big  did  like  smiling 
men  around  him.  "  Yes,  Excellency,  that  is  the 
good  politics.  What  a  talking  there  will  be  among 
my  people !  I  hear  them !  '  He  actually  chuckled. 
"  If  they  choose  the  council  and  the  council  turns 
out  bad  they  cannot  blame  me.  I  will  what  you 
call  pass  the  buck,  as  your  soldiers  say  when  they 
sit  in  a  circle  and  play  at  the  cards.  The  council 
will  get  all  the  scolding." 

"  You  already  grasp  the  checks  and  balances 
of  a  democracy,"  said  the  Governor,  "  and  you 
can  tell  them  it  is  in  their  power  to  get  a  new  lot 
of  councilmen  more  to  their  satisfaction  at  the 
next  election,  without  having  to  make  war  with 
their  boloes." 

"  True,  Excellency,  true!  And,  Excellency,  I 
have  another  idea!  I  would  like  to  work  with 
you  in  another  thing.  The  schools  they  please  me 
very  much,  and  you  will  have  an  overseer  with  the 
high  education  from  your  country,  is  it  not  f  ' 

"  Yes." 

"  Excellency,  I  am  a  most  presuming  and  un 
grateful  man,"  Don  Francisco  lapsed  into  the 
Oriental  affectation  of  self-deprecation.  "  I  re 
fuse  the  office  and  yet  I  ask  for  the  office.  I  would 


WANTED,  A  CHARMING  LADY  323 

like  to  assist  the  overseer  by  preparing  the  ground 
for  the  schools.  It  is  in  the  rural  districts  we 
should  begin.  There  the  minds  of  the  people  are 
not  spoiled.  In  the  capital  they  have  the  many 
wrong  things  to  unlearn  before  they  can  begin 
to  learn  the  right  things.  When  the  country  is 
won  the  capital  is  won. ' ' 

"  You  shall  be  the  assistant  overseer.  This  is 
just  the  thing  I  wanted/ '  the  Governor  told  him. 

"  And,  Excellency,  I  will  go  about  in  the  coun 
try  preparing  the  way  for  the  teachers,"  con 
tinued  Don  Francisco. 

' '  Then  you  will  have  to  hurry,  for  they  are  ex 
pected  inside  of  two  weeks." 

' '  Two  weeks !  That  is  too  bad.  Two  months 
would  be  better.  I  would  like  to  excite  the  curios 
ity  of  the  people,  and  have  a  fiesta  when  the  teach 
ers  arrive.  Our  people  like  the  fiestas.  I  think 
two  months  will  be  the  better  politics." 

"  Two  months  it  shall  be,  if  I  can  arrange  it," 
the  Governor  returned. 

He  wired  immediately  to  Washington  asking  if 
the  lot  of  teachers  destined  for  Bar  might  not  be, 
for  the  reason  he  gave,  transferred  to  some  other 
island.  They  might,  was  the  answer,  but  with  an 
exception.  It  seemed  that  one  of  them,  a  Miss 
Moore,  had  found  passage  for  herself  and  rather 
than  wait  on  the  transport  was  already  on  the  way 
by  an  inter-island  steamer. 

Now  there  are  many  Miss  Moores  in  the  world 
and  this  one  was  only  a  name  on  a  cable  form.  It 
conveyed  no  more  suggestion  to  the  Governor, 


324  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

who  knew  nothing  of  Ellen's  plan,  than  if  it  had 
been  Miss  Smith  or  Miss  Jones.  Should  they  re 
call  her,  too  1  Washington  asked. 

This  question  the  Governor  took  to  Don  Fran 
cisco. 

"  One,  and  a  lady?  "  quoth  the  old  Presidente, 
and  was  silent  for  a  while. 

"'  One,  and  a  lady,"  repeated  the  Big  Fellow. 
"  Yes." 

"  Excellency,  it  is  not  the  proper  question,  per 
haps,  but  do  you  think  she  is  a  charming  lady?  ' 

"  I  hope  she  is  efficient,  but  as  to  the  other 
qualifications  I  would  not  undertake  to  say.  I 
fear  they  aren't  in  the  Civil  Service  requirements 
and  that  the  Department  would  scarcely  care  to 
pass  an  opinion  on  so  delicate  a  subject." 

1 1  No,  that  would  not  be  the  good  politics  for  the 
the  Department,  I  can  see,"  said  Don  Francisco. 
"  But  I  ask,  Excellency,  because  it  is  most  im 
portant  to  a  plan  I  have.  It  is  the  beautiful  plan. 
It  fits  into  the  one  for  the  other  teachers  coming 
like  my  fingers — so !  "  he  wove  them  together.  ' '  I 
know  a  place,  Bowang,  in  the  country,  where  the 
people  are  not  spoiled.  It  is  only  two  miles  away 
from  Takar,  so  it  would  be  very  easy  to  take  the 
people  to  see  it— this  nucleus.  There  I  would 
make  the  first  school  to  show  to  everyone." 

"I  see!  The  model!  Exhibit  A!  Don  Fran 
cisco,  you  are  a  man  after  my  own  heart!  "  said 
the  Governor. 

"  Yes,  the  Exhibit  A  of  the  schools."  Don 
Francisco  had  a  new  expression.  "  It  would  be 


WANTED,  A  CHARMING  LADY  325 

to  all  the  other  schools  what  the  nucleus  of  my 
Toll  is  to  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  minor 
ity.  But  the  Tongals,  they  make  much  of  the 
first  impressions.  You  will  know  that  because 
they  so  much  honor  the  quick  Clancy  after  what 
he  did  with  the  Paktowan  in  his  first  fight.  So  a 
charming  lady  would  help  very  much,  Excellency, 
even  if  she  were  not  so  wise  or  good  a  teacher  as 
some  plain  ladies. " 

"  Let's  hope  for  the  best,  Don  Francisco.  Let 
us  take  the  risk !  ' '  concluded  the  Governor,  unwit 
tingly  speaking  a  word  for  Ellen. 

"  Very  good,  Excellency.  Ah,  I  will  make  a 
new  schoolhouse  on  a  beautiful  knoll  on  the  river 
bank,  to  show  the  people  how  all  the  Tongals 
are  to  know  how  to  read  and  write,  instead  of  the 
few  who  use  their  little  learning  to  fool  the  others, 
like  Campo  does.  And  we  will  have  a  portrait  of 
the  Honorable  Lincoln  over  the  blackboard,  and 
proceed  quite  as  if  she  were  a  charming  lady  ' 
which  he  was  warranted  in  doing  where  Ellen  was 
concerned. 

"  Excellency,"  said  Don  Francisco,  as  he  rose 
to  go,  "  I  am  always  asking  the  questions  and  I 
have  another  which  has  caused  me  the  very  much 
thought,  for  my  people  are  asking  it  and  it  is  hard 
to  answer.  Why  is  it  that  the  statesmen  in 
America  keep  saying  so  all  the  insurrectoes  can 
hear  that  if  Campo  keeps  on  fighting  he  will 
win?  " 

i '  They  want  to  give  up  the  islands  at  once. ' ' 

"  But   then,    Excellency,    we   would   have    no 


326  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

schools.  I  would  fight.  We  would  all  fight. 
Campo  for  a  little  time,  he  would  be  the  ruler. 
Then  if  someone  beat  Campo,  for  a  little  time  he 
would  be  the  ruler.  There  would  be  no  end,  Excel 
lency,  no  end !  ' 

"  That  is  true.  But  everyone  at  home  has  the 
right  to  speak  as  he  pleases.  A  bad  cause  will 
speak  itself  out  in  time.  We  have  to  be  patient." 

"  Was  that  the  Honorable  Lincoln's  way?  " 

"  Yes." 

' '  And  he  won  the  great  war  1  ' ' 

"  Yes." 

"  The  Honorable  Lincoln  was  a  very  remark 
able  man,"  concluded  Don  Francisco,  with  a  bow 
to  the  portrait ;  for  he  was  still  Oriental  enough  to 
personify  any  idea  with  a  figurehead.  "  I  will 
tell  our  people  that  a  few  people  in  America  make 
the  big  talk  like  the  lazy  fellow  who  sings  loud  and 
picks  no  hemp,  and  that  your  amiable  Excellency 
is  too  busy  getting  in  the  crop  to  mind  them." 


XXIX 

THE   THINKER  AND   THE   TRADER 

WORD  that  Don  Francisco  had  been  con 
verted  by  the  Governor  traveled  fast.  It 
was  news  and  great  news  to  one  Dr. 
Cortina,  lawyer,  graduate  of  the  University  of 
Salamanca,  part  Spanish  and  part  Tongal,  whom 
the  natives  called  The  Thinker ;  to  one  Parkowitz, 
that  pronouncedly  British  subject,  who  kept  cer 
tain  personal  accounts  quite  separate  from  those 
of  the  firm  he  represented ;  and  to  all  and  sundry 
plotters  in  the  closets  of  the  town  and  the  jungles 
of  the  country  who  had  had  any  association  with 
the  Presidente  of  Toll.  Parkowitz  sought  Cortina 
at  once. 

' '  My  word !  ' '  gasped  the  trader,  thrown  off  his 
"  side  "  which  he  thought  was  the  distinguishing 
characteristic  of  a  gentleman.  "  The  Governor's 
not  such  an  ass  as  not  to  pump  him!  If  the  old 
man  should  tell  all  he  knew — my  word!  'twould 
make  a  nasty  mess !  ' ' 

"It  is  a  difficult  situation,"  said  Cortina, 
softly.  "  Have  a  whisky  and  soda,  Parkowitz. 
I'll  have  a  mint.  Yes,  assuredly  a  most  difficult 
situation  for  you." 

6 '  For  me!   I  like  that !    You  know  it's  the  other 

327 


328  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

way  'round !  "  said  Parkowitz,  chirking  up  a  little. 
"  I'm  a  British  subject,  and  you  are  an  American 
citizen  or  something  of  the  sort,  aren't  you?  " 

"  Their  Supreme  Court  has  not  yet  decided 
what  we  are,"  Cortina  continued,  sarcastically. 
' '  The  Americans  quibble  over  moral  peccadilloes. 
They  are  a  provincial  people.  They  have  not  the 
gift  for  what  the  French  call  high  politics." 

He  hitched  his  lame  leg  into  a  more  comfortable 
position,  licked  the  mint  off  his  teeth  and  lips,  and 
looked  around  the  spacious  room.  There  were  a 
number  of  French  etchings  on  the  wall  and  tall 
Chinese  vases  in  the  corners. 

"  Yes,"  he  resumed,  with  a  grimace,  "  if  Don 
Francisco  should  tell  all  he  knows  and  he  were  of 
a  mind  he  might  break  up  my  happy  home.  I 
never  did  believe  that  he  was  a  true  patriot,"  Cor 
tina  added,  devoutly. 

"  No!  "    answered  Parkowitz,  with  a  grin. 

"  There  is  a  way  to  take  care  of  Don  Fran 
cisco,"  Cortina  resumed;  but  he  did  not  say  what 
it  was.  His  eyes  glittered,  however.  Then  he 
drained  his  glass  and  called  for  his  hat  and  stick. 
"  We  don't  know  that  he  has  told  anything,"  he 
continued.  "  What  do  you  say  to  my  feeling  the 
official  pulse?  I'll  go  and  have  a  chat  with  the 
Governor  while  you  wait  for  me  here. ' ' 

' 1  My  word !  He  has  a  nerve !  ' '  thought  Parko 
witz,  who  settled  down  to  pass  the  time  until  the 
return  of  The  Thinker,  whom  he  watched  half 
limping  along  in  the  shade  of  the  buildings  and 
then  up  the  steps  of  the  Palace.  "  It's  an  artistic 


THE  THINKER  AND  THE  TRADER   329 

bit  of  probing  he  can  do  if  anybody  can.  ...  I 
shall  be  glad  to  be  back  in  old  Mother  England, 
where  I  can  associate  with  honest  men.  .  .  .  My 
word!  I  shouldn't  be  surprised  to  hear  any  time 
that  Don  Francisco  had  been  assassinated !  ' : 

Shrewdly  Cortina  studied  Kiddy's  face  when 
he  asked  if  he  might  see  the  Governor. 

"  I  am  sure  you  may,"  answered  Kiddy. 
"  There's  no  one  inside  now." 

His  secretary  had  heard  nothing  unusual,  any 
way,  Cortina  thought,  as  the  doors  were  swung 
open  and  The  Thinker  hitched  his  way  in.  The 
Big  Fellow  was  as  affable  as  usual  to  this  visitor, 
who  was  an  intellectual  puzzle  to  him.  When 
seated  beside  the  desk  Cortina  was  profuse  with 
congratulations. 

"  Don  Francisco  is  more  valuable  than  anyone 
else  could  be,"  he  said.  "  Now,  one  who  lives  in 
town  like  myself  would  be  mistrusted  by  the 
natives."  Then  he  talked  on  in  his  soft  manner, 
hinting  that  Don  Francisco,  of  course,  had  his 
prejudices.  "  And  he  ought  to  bring  you  a  great 
deal  of  information, ' '  he  concluded. 

This  was  as  near  as  the  artistic  prober  could 
come  to  the  inquiry  he  had  in  mind.  It  brought 
no  response  from  the  Governor,  except  something 
about  the  coming  of  the  teachers,  the  new  school 
at  Bowang,  and  the  election  at  Toll.  Big  was  most 
hopeful.  He  included  Cortina  and  everyone  in  the 
brighter  outlook  since  he  had  won  Don  Francisco. 

"  Excellency,  I  mistrusted  the  wisdom  of  your 
generous  measures  at  first,"  said  Cortina,  "  but  I 


330  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

begin  to  believe  in  them  myself,  thanks  to  your 
gift  for  making  friends.  My  health  will  not  let 
me  take  an  active  part,  but  I  shall  avail  myself  of 
saying  a  word  for  your  policy  whenever  I  can. 
Again,  Excellency,  I  congratulate  you." 

11  Thank  you,  doctor,  thank  you!  We  shall  see 
Bar  a  peaceful,  happy  island  sooner  than  we 
think. " 

Cortina  withdrew  all  but  convinced  that  the 
Governor  had  heard  nothing  to  his  discredit.  Yet 
the  big  man  nettled  him.  He  found  it  hard  to  look 
into  the  calm,  clear  eyes  for  long  and  sometimes 
he  thought  that  the  Governor  might  be  deeper 
than  he  imagined.  At  the  head  of  the  steps  he 
stopped  to  speak  to  Benito,  that  immovable,  squat 
figure. 

"  How  is  our  little  keeper  of  the  door!  "  he 
asked,  ingratiatingly.  He  had  known  Benito  a 
long  time  and  had  always  felt  the  boy 's  dislike. 

*  *  Happy  as  the  palm  leaves  in  a  shower, ' '  was 
the  answer,  as  the  Guardian  looked  across  the 
square  and  kept  the  punka  going.  His  free  hand 
was  under  his  shirt ;  and,  as  if  it  had  accidentally 
fallen,  a  revolver  rolled  out  on  the  mat  at  his 
side. 

"  Our  little  keeper  of  the  door  is  armed,"  said 
Cortina,  concealing  his  uneasiness.  "  He  is  wise, 
as  he  protects  a  great  man." 

"  His  Great  Bigness  protects  himself,"  an 
swered  Benito.  "  I  study  to  shoot."  He  slipped 
his  finger  under  the  trigger,  raised  the  revolver 
and  pointed  toward  the  square.  "  Doctor,  do  you 


THE  THINKER  AND  THE  TRADER   331 

see  that  spot  on  the  palm  tree?  Yes!  Will  the 
doctor  watch  it?  " 

Benito  fired  and  dust  flew  out  of  the  trunk  at  one 
side  of  the  spot. 

"  Wonderful!  "  exclaimed  Cortina.  "Who 
taught  you?  "  He  knew  that  no  native  could  learn 
such  accuracy  of  himself. 

"  Ensign  Clancy  teach  me,  the  quick  Clancy 
who  cannot  be  still.  He  shoots  quick  and  'most 
always  hits.  I  watch  the  Major  Staton  and  him. 
The  Major  Staton  not  so  quick,  but  always  hits. 
You  must  have  the  straight  eye  to  shoot  well.  Men 
who  have  not  the  straight  eye,  they  cannot  shoot 
well." 

At  the  sound  of  the  shot,  Kiddy  Witherbee  came 
hurrying  out,  and  saw  the  smoking  barrel  in 
Benito 's  hand. 

*  '  Here,  give  that  to  me,  Benito !  What  do  you 
mean?  M  he  demanded. 

But  Benito  held  fast  to  his  precious  weapon. 

'  '  Mind,  now,  you  keep  it  only  on  condition  that 
you  never  fire  it  again,  here  or  in  town,  unless  you 
are  attacked,"  Kiddy  warned  him.  "  Do  you 
promise?  " 

"  I  promise!  I  promise  honest,  the  Kiddy!  >: 
Benito  answered,  after  a  little  hesitation.  He 
slipped  the  revolver  back  under  his  shirt,  the 
punka  recommenced  its  swing,  and  Kiddy  re 
turned  to  his  office.  Cortina  started  down  the 
steps.  He  was  at  the  foot  when  Benito  called  to 
him,  in  a  loud  whisper : 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  shoot  very  well.    If  a  snake  bite 


332  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

Don  Francisco  in  the  dark  I  think  I  could  hit  the 
head  of  the  snake  easily  when  the  snake  is  out  of 
town." 

Cortina 's  only  answer  was  a  wry  smile.  How 
much  did  this  boy  know?  No  matter!  The  Gov 
ernor  was  not  the  man  to  listen  to  a  servant's 
whims  or  gossip. 

Parkowitz  had  begun  on  his  third  whisky  and 
soda  when  The  Thinker,  mounting  the  stairs  to 
the  main  living  floor  of  the  house,  appeared,  call 
ing  for  another  mint. 

"  How  was  it!  "  Parkowitz  asked. 

Cortina  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

1 1  No  danger,  I  think.  Smiled  in  the  same  man 
ner  as  usual.  Talked  about  his  school-teachers 
like  some  great  simpleton  who  is  just  out  of  the 
shell  and  thinks  all  the  world  as  beautiful  as  the 
sky, ' '  returned  the  doctor. 

11  Did  you  ever  hear  such  bally  rot!  "  said 
Parkowitz.  "  Educating  all  these  jungle  bare- 
backs!  " 

"  The  natives  need  a  master,  that  is  all,"  Cor 
tina  returned.  ' '  They  can  understand  nothing  of 
this  Utopian  programme.  But,  to  my  mind,  all  de 
mocracy  is  wrong.  An  autocracy  is  the  true  gov 
ernment — and  I  would  like  to  be  one  of  the  auto 
crats!  Why  should  hemp-pickers  be  taught 
abc's?  " 

"  Quite  right!  A  good  whip-lash  makes  them 
work  better,"  said  Parkowitz.  "  But  I  say,  it's 
not  all  over  by  a  long  way.  Don  Francisco  has 
plenty  of  time  to  tell  all  he  knows,  if  he  hasn't  al- 


THE  THINKER  AND  THE  TRADER   333 

ready.  What  was  that  you  were  saying  about 
taking  care  of  him?  " 

61  Oh,  that  would  never  do!  "  answered  Cor 
tina;  and  he  saw  the  glint  on  Benito's  revolver 
sight  and  the  burst  of  dust  from  the  palm  tree. 
1 '  It  would  be  too  unpleasant, ' '  he  concluded,  sar 
donically. 

"  My  word!  but  there's  the  old  duffer,  now!  " 
exclaimed  Parkowitz,  nodding  toward  Don  Fran 
cisco,  who  was  coming  across  the  plaza.  He  was 
making  direct  for  Cortina 's  house,  and  a  moment 
later  the  sturdy  figure  appeared  in  the  shadow  at 
the  head  of  the  stairs.  Cortina  rose  to  receive 
him  effusively. 

"  Old  comrade,"  he  said,  "  we  congratulate 
you  on  a  rise  in  the  world!  When  do  you  hold 
your  election?  When  do  you  begin  building  your 
school  at  Bowang?  " 

Don  Francisco  did  not  answer  and  he  refused 
the  chair  which  was  placed  for  him. 

'  '  It  will  not  take  me  long  to  speak  what  I  have 
to  say,"  he  explained.  "  I  come  straight  to  you, 
for  that  is  the  way  the  young  Governor  always 
does." 

"  Will  you  not  have  a  mint?  "  pursued  Cortina. 
' '  Do  sit  down,  if  only  for  a  moment !  ' ' 

Cortina  showed  his  nervousness ;  Parkowitz  was 
tugging  his  moustache,  for  Don  Francisco  looked 
most  forbidding.  They  realized  that  their  careers 
were  largely  in  his  keeping. 

"  Cortina,  you  and  I  have  had  the  relations  to 
gether,  working  for  the  cause ;  and,  Parkowitz.  I 


334  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

have  bought  the  rifles  from  you.  Now  I  am  through 
with  all  these  things.  I  work  for  my  Toll  and  for 
the  Governor.  But  I  come  to  tell  you  that  I  will 
tell  the  Governor  nothing  of  all  that  has  passed 
between  us.  You  are  safe.  But  in  the  future  I  am 
your  enemy. " 

"  Very  handsome  of  you,  I'm  sure!  "  said 
Parkowitz. 

"  I  am  glad  to  have  my  idea  of  your  character 
borne  out,"  said  Cortina. 

But  Don  Francisco  had  no  more  to  say.  Having 
kept  the  faith  among  plotters,  he  turned  on  his 
heel  in  disgust. 

When  he  was  gone  Parkowitz  exclaimed  wildly : 

"  That  lets  us  out !  "  But  it  would  never  do  for 
him  to  appear  excited.  He  recovered  his  i  i  side. ' ' 
"  I  never  worried,  anyway,  being  a  British  sub 
ject.  I  say,  Cortina,  when  you've  money  enough 
to  go  to  Spain  and  take  life  easy,  why  do  you 
stay?  " 

'  '  I  have  plans !  ' '  returned  Cortina.  ' '  I  like  to 
play  with  the  devil  in  me !  ' ' 

"  Nasty  little  beast!"  thought  Parkowitz. 
"  Soon  I'll  be  back  in  Mother  England  with  my 
fortune,  among  honest  men !  ' ' 

Oh,  they  were  both,  these  two  characters,  so 
true  of  the  Bar  of  that  day,  and  must  be  drawn 
as  they  are! 

16  And  when  are  you  going?  "  asked  Cortina. 

"  I  shan't  be  long  now,"  Parkowitz  returned. 

But  he  still  hoped  to  sell  one  more  lot  of  rifles 
and  close  up  the  coming  hemp  season  before  he 


THE  THINKER  AND  THE  TRADER   335 

retired  for  good.  That  deal  consummated,  he 
would  soon  be  seen  afternoons  in  Piccadilly, 
where  they  bother  as  little  where  your  fortune 
comes  from  as  on  Fifth  Avenue.  He  might  have  a 
bit  of  shooting  in  the  season,  too,  and  pose  as  a 
bronzed  man  of  the  world  who  has  seen  life  in  the 
tropics. 

"  By  the  way,"  he  went  on,  coming  to  business, 
"  weVe  been — er — talking  so  much  of  this  other 
thing  that  I  forgot  to  ask  if  you  landed  that  five 
hundred  all  right. ' ' 

"  Prettily!  "  answered  Cortina.  "  Prairie 
Fire  sent  Clancy  and  the  Paldoivan  to  Nogal 
Bay,  while  we  did  the  trick  at  Bambang  Bay — and 
Staton  fumed!  " 

"  Smart  boy,  that  Enrico!  "  thought  Parko- 
witz ;  and  he  said  aloud :  '  *  You  know,  I  can  lay 
my  hand  on  two  thousand,  all  Mausers,  and  four 
hundred  thousand  rounds  at  Hongkong,  and  I 
have  my  eye  on  a  tramp  steamer  that  can  bring 
them." 

"Two  thousand,  all  Mausers!"  mused  Cor 
tina,  indifferently. 

"  I  suppose  that  all  this  schoolma'am  business 
and  the  rest  of  the  bally  brown  brother  rot  has 
made  you  change  your  mind!  "  Parkowitz  con 
cluded. 

"  No.  That's  all  the  more  reason  to  go  on.  I 
have  plans !  plans !  ' '  said  Cortina. 

"  Never  could  understand  the  nasty  little 
beast,"  thought  Parkowitz. 

"  It's  a  question  of  price,"  continued  Cortina. 


336  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  But  I  think,"  he  added,  with  a  leerish  smile, 
"  that  two  thousand  rifles  ought  to  collect  their 
cost  off  the  people  once  we  have  them  in  hand.  A 
question  of  price !  If  you'll  be  reasonable,  Parko- 
witz,  we'll  talk. " 

The  evening  was  old  before  the  bargain  was 
driven  with  all  details  of  purchase,  transport,  and 
cash  payment  at  Hongkong  on  delivery.  The  pair 
were  having  a  drink  in  sociable  consummation  of 
the  deal  when  Enrico  came  in.  He  never  visited 
Cortina  except  at  night,  for  it  was  well  to  take 
ordinary  precautions,  even  if  Prairie  Fire  did 
tell  his  faithful  informant  to  circulate  in  all  circles 
and  pick  up  all  the  news  he  could.  Enrico  joined 
them  in  a  mint  before  the  departure  of  Parkowitz, 
that  apostle  of  white  solidarity,  feeling  that  this 
deal  had  made  him  very  near,  indeed,  to  his  goal 
of  Piccadilly. 

"  Enrico!  My  Enrico!  "  said  Cortina,  affec 
tionately.  "  Two  thousand  rifles!  Do  you  think 
we  can  have  Clancy  sent  to  Pading  when  they 
come?  " 

"  Am  I  not  the  only  damned  one  in  the  whole 
damned  island?  "  answered  the  faithful  inform 
ant,  confidently.  Then  he  fired  all  the  strings, 
with  a  native's  quickness  for  imitation,  in  such 
amusing  mimicry  of  Prairie  Fire's  manner  that 
Cortina  broke  into  a  laugh. 

"  Enrico,  my  Enrico,"  said  Cortina,  "  with  the 
fairy  of  democracy  in  the  Palace  and  Prairie 
Fire  at  the  barracks,  I  shall  have  work  for  you. 
When  Don  Francisco  has  his  new  government  in 


THE  THINKER  AND  THE  TRADER   337 

Toll  running  well,  perhaps  Campo  will — but 
wait!  " 

"  The  Governor!  "  interjected  Enrico,  sud 
denly.  "  I  do  not  like  his  eyes.  Sometimes  I 
think  they  see  far  and  sometimes  I  think  he  waits 
and  waits — and  he  and  Major  Staton  are  great 
friends. " 

"  Nonsense!  He  sees  school-teachers!  "  an 
swered  Cortina.  "  He  is  big  and  simple,  that  is 
all.  We  have  only  to  keep  on  and  all  the 
Americans  will  be  called  home  by  their  own  peo 
ple.  My  Enrico,  I  have  been  corresponding  with 
a  great  American  statesman.  He  encourages  us 
to  fight  on. ' ' 

Most  impressed  was  that  great  American  states 
man.  Cortina 's  scholarly  letter  in  a  fine  Spanish 
hand  he  had  offered  as  an  exhibit  to  his  fellow 
countrymen  to  prove  how  fit  were  the  Tongals  for 
self-government. 

"  Two  thousand  rifles,  my  Enrico!  We  will 
make  them  pay  for  themselves.  To-night  I  am 
sending  out  word  to  all  our  friends  that  the  Gov 
ernor  bought  Don  Francisco  for  twenty  thousand 
pesos  and  what  the  great  American  statesman 
wrote  to  me  and  some  newspaper  photographs  of 
him  and  newspaper  clippings  from  his  speeches. 
My  Enrico,  I  shall  be  in  that  Palace  yet  and  you 
will  have  a  General's  red  trousers!  "  which  was 
the  height  of  Enrico 's  ambition. 

"  I  can  do  anything  with  Prairie  Fire,"  said 
Enrico,  his  confidence  returning.  "  Am  I  not  the 
only  damned  one  in  the  whole  damned  island?  " 


XXX 

ELLEN  AUKIVES 

PACING,  the  capital  of  the  tractable  island  of 
Danoy,  is  only  thirty  miles  from  Takar  on  a 
different  inter-island  steamer  route,  which 
disconnects  with  that  to  Bar  by  anywhere  from  a 
day  to  a  week.     On  her  way  to  the  position  to 
which  Miss  Destiny,  or  whoever  or  whatever  you 
please,  had  called  her,  Miss  Ellen  Moore,  arriving 
at  Fading  at  the  break  of  day  on  Monday,  faced 
the  ordeal  of  waiting  over  until  Wednesday. 

Clancy,  who  was  in  these  waters  with  the  Pak- 
towan,  first  saw  her  across  the  veranda  of  the 
Spanish  hostelry  that  was  called  a  hotel  in  Eng 
lish  for  no  reason,  he  said,  except  the  paint  on 
the  sign.  For  dinner  they  served  you  fish  in 
grease  and  peppers  and  meat  in  grease  and  pep 
pers  and  no  fruit.  And  what  do  you  think  was 
the  breakfast  on  sudsy-hot  mornings,  when  your 
eyes  were  starting  with  the  heat  from  your  ach 
ing  head  and  your  tongue  was  a  hot  stone  in  your 
mouth?  A  thimbleful  of  chocolate  as  thick  as 
molasses  and  one  small  sweet-cake !  Probably  the 
proprietor  would  have  turned  out  something  bet 
ter  for  Ellen ;  if  he  had  not,  he  would  have  broken 


ELLEN  ARRIVES  339 

the  precedent  set  by  other  people  she  had  met  on 
her  journey. 

"  She's  come  out  to  teach,  you  say!  "  quoth 
the  Lord  High  Admiral  of  the  hundred-tonner  to 
the  Captain  of  the  Port.  "  What!  To  teach!  " 
as  he  got  a  better  view  of  her  face.  "  And  wait 
ing  for  a  steamer,  you  say?  What!  Going  to 
Bar!  Why,  of  course  she  is!  Of  course  she  is! 
She's  going  on  the  U.  S.  S.  Paktowan,  which  sails 
at  nine!  " 

If  no  one  had  introduced  Clancy  he  would 
have  introduced  himself,  as  he  never  wanted  for 
words  or  a  way. 

"  Don't  you  worry  about  time.  We  will  do  it 
nicely  before  dark,"  he  told  her.  "  I  can  do  five 
knots  with  the  Pakky  right  regularly.  Once  I  did 
eight  for  a  while,  till  everything  began  to  break 
at  once  and  she  lay  a  gasping  wreck,  undone.  But 
with  hammer,  rivets,  a  piece  of  stovepipe,  and  some 
putty  I  can  patch  any  part.  That's  the  beauty 
of  her.  I  have  target  practice,  battle  practice, 
quarters,  swing  compasses,  and  everything  in  the 
book.  You'll  not  only  get  there  sooner,  but  you'll 
see  a  great  command." 

His  one  Chinese  boy,  cook,  ammunition-passer, 
and  head  devil,  had  Ellen's  trunk  aboard  inside 
of  fifteen  minutes  and  in  half  an  hour  they  were 
out  at  sea,  she  seated  in  the  one  chair  with  a  back 
under  that  postage-stamp  of  awning  aft,  while  he 
sat  in  Oriental  fashion  on  the  deck,  talking  to 
her  as  if  he  had  known  her  all  his  life. 

"  It's    funny   you're   coming   out   to   teach," 


340  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

he  remarked,  ponderingly,  "  out  into  this  jungly 
country. " 

Why  should  everybody  be  asking  her  and  her 
particularly  this  question!  Ellen  wondered.  She 
had  learned  to  give  a  stereotyped  answer : 

"  It's  double  pay  for  abc's  and  no  '  math.'  I 
do  know  my  abc's,  anyway,  and  I  had  to  earn  a 
living. ' ' 

Judging  by  his  own  mind,  Clancy  thought  there 
ought  to  be  a  lot  of  men  in  the  United  States  who 
would  be  slaves  of  the  desk  to  keep  her  in  a  car 
riage  and  pair.  But  he  must  not  allow  him 
self  such  thoughts.  Wasn't  he  engaged! — as  he 
promptly  told  everyone  in  his  transparent  manner 
of  the  sea.  She  did  remind  him  of  Clem,  however, 
and  thereon  he  took  her  into  the  stuffy  box  of  a 
deck-cabin  to  show  her  a  portrait  of  a  young  lady, 
though  he  might  have  shown  her  the  one  in  his 
pocketbook.  A  third  he  had  in  his  trunk. 

11  The  only  unhappy  thing  for  us  both,"  he  ex 
plained,  "  is  that  her  name  is  Clementine.  But 
she  can't  help  that  any  more  than  she  could  hav 
ing  the  measles.  Her  folks  call  her  Clemmy,  but 
I  concluded  that  sounded  too  much  like  clammy,  so 
it's  Clem!  " 

"  I  wouldn't  mind  what  her  name  is,"  said 
Ellen,  "  she's  so  good-looking;"  as  Miss  Clemen 
tine  Underhill  was,  no  doubt,  but  she  had  a  look, 
too,  which  might  indicate  fickleness  to  a  student 
of  character. 

"  Everybody  says  so  and  I  say  so  most  of  all! 
I'm  a  lucky  one !  We're  going  to  be  married  when 


ELLEN  ARRIVES 

this  cruise  is  up.  Think  of  it!  "  exclaimed  that 
quick  Clancy.  "  We  knew  each  other  only  three 
weeks  before  I  sailed.  It  took  us  both  sudden.  She 
certainly  did  get  me  hard,  right  there!  " 

He  put  his  hand  over  his  heart  and  blushed,  and 
then  changed  the  subject  by  asking  Ellen  if  she 
wouldn  't  like  to  come  on  the  bridge. 

"  It's  a  great  and  rare  privilege  to  go  on  the 
bridge  of  the  Pakky,"  said  he.  "  There's  only 
one  of  her  kind,  while  we  have  eight  battleships. 
So  you  see  I'm  not  boasting." 

The  truth  was  that  the  Paktowan  had  no  bridge. 
You  stood  by  the  wheel  and  looked  over  the  bow 
and  the  Colt's.  He  showed  Ellen  the  working  of 
the  Colt's  and  then  drifted  back  to  Clem. 

"  The  mails  are  something  fierce  out  here,"  he 
told  her,  as  they  went  aft  to  that  one  shady  spot. 
"  I  haven't  had  a  letter  from  Clem  for  four  weeks 
and  I  know  she  writes  every  day.  Anyhow,  I'll 
have  a  big  bunch  when  they  do  come.  But  here, 
I've  talked  more  to  you  than  I  have  to  anyone 
about  her !  Do  you  usually  draw  confidences  out 
of  people  this  way?  " 

"  Yes.  Haven't  I  been  quizzing  you?  "  she 
asked. 

He  returned  her  teasing  glance  with  one  that 
comprehended. 

66  Because  you  haven't  had  a  chance,"  he  ad 
mitted.  "Til  be  old  Mr.  Sphinx  and  you  will  do 
all  the  talking  at  lunch.  Hey !  Ah  Fong !  ' ' 

Out  of  the  galley  came  slippered  feet  and  hands 
being  wiped  on  apron. 


342  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  All  Fong,  did  you  bring  any  flowers  for  the 
table!  " 

"  Flowlahs?  "  quoth  the  graven  image. 

"  Yes,  flowers.  Don't  you  know  that  there 
should  always  be  flowers  on  the  table  when  I  have 
a  lady  to  tiffin?  " 

Of  course,  Ah  Fong  knew  it  now.  But  he  acted 
as  if  he  had  learned  it  on  his  grandfather's  knee. 

"  Yes,  Mlasta.  Me  savey  long  time!  Yes,  me 
catchee  flowlahs  at  Fading.  Fall  ovahboahd! 
Velly  solly,  Missy,  velly  solly!  " 

"  Did  you  ever  know  anybody  to  get  ahead  of 
the  East !  ' '  exclaimed  Clancy. 

Ah  Fong,  however,  cut  a  mango  to  look  like  a 
yellow  lily,  set  it  on  a  teacup  bottom  for  a  vase, 
and,  without  a  smile,  said,  in  monosyllabic  monot 
ony  :  i l  Flowlahs !  Me  catchee !  ' '  when  he  served 
the  meal. 

This  was  all  very  good  nonsense  and  there  was 
more  of  it  to  come  between  Clancy  and  his  guest ; 
but  in  the  back  of  Miss  Ellen  Moore's  head  was  the 
awakening  sense  that  with  the  hills  of  Bar  in  sight 
across  that  slightly  rolling,  laundry-blue  sea  her 
journey  was  at  an  end  and  surprises  and  explana 
tions  were  to  come. 

What  would  Big  think  of  her?  What  could  he 
think  of  her?  It  was  not  possible  that  he  knew  of 
her  coming.  All  the  news  he  had  was  the  letter 
she  had  written  when  she  was  staying  with  Miss 
Tyson.  And  why  was  it  any  of  his  affair?  More 
than  ever  was  she  glad  that  she  had  asked  for  a 
rural  school,  where  she  would  be  away  from  the 


ELLEN  ARRIVES  343 

capital  and  would  not  be  under  any  charge  of  hav 
ing  used  his  influence.  She  was  really  in  earnest 
in  this  point  of  view,  too,  or,  at  least,  thought  she 
was. 

"  Do  you  know  the  Governor?  "  she  asked. 

"  Oh,  the  Big  Fellow!  Well,  I  should  say  so! 
He's  a  splendid  sort.  Only  I'm  afraid  he's  too 
simple.  He's  always  saying  '  don't  kill  any 
body.'  Old  Prairie  Fire  and  he  don't  jibe.  The 
General's  idea  is,  when  in  doubt  shoot.  If  you  hit 
the  mark  you're  bound  to  kill  an  insurrecto,  he 
thinks.  But  the  trouble  is  that  by  the  time  he 
arrives  all  the  real  insurrectoes  have  gone  and 
he  kills  a  few  of  the  populace,  whose  relatives 
then  turn  insurrecto." 

"  Now  you  mustn't  say  anything  against  Big 
to  me — not  a  word!  "  she  declared,  sharply,  her 
loyalty  to  him  flaring  up. 

"  I  wasn't!  "Tisn't  the  navy's  business.  I 
wasn't!  The  Pakky  does  what  she's  told,  which 
is  mostly  to  go  where  the  rifles  aren't  being  landed. 
No!  The  Governor's  too  good  for  this  kind  of  a 
job." 

But  why  did  she  call  him  Big?  he  asked  him 
self. 

It  now  occurred  to  her  for  the  first  time  that  the 
fact  of  her  relations  to  Big  must  be  known.  It  was 
clear  that  explanations  would  be  inevitable.  She 
began,  at  once,  with  Clancy. 

"  You  know,  I'm  a  sort  of  adopted  sister  of  the 
Governor's,"  she  said.  "  We  lived  in  the  same 
house  until  I  was  twelve — though  we  aren't  any 


344  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

blood  relation.  And  we've  always  been  like 
brother  and  sister,  quite!  ' 

Clancy  thought  this  threw  a  new  and  unpleasant 
light  on  the  Governor's  character.  There  must 
be  something  wrong  with  any  man  who  would 
allow  such  a  sister  as  this  to  come  out  to  Bar  to 
teach  school. 

"  And  I'm  going  to  let  you  into  a  secret,"  she 
continued.  She  saw  that  this,  too,  must  be  known 
in  order  to  make  her  position  clear.  li  I  got  my 
position  and  came  all  the  way  without  ever  telling 
him  a  word,  as  a  surprise !  ' 

That  was  different.  The  Governor  rose  to  his 
former  place  in  Clancy's  estimation. 

"What  a  lark!  " 

Talk  about  girls !  Clancy  doubled  his  feet  under 
him  and,  locking  his  arms  around  his  knees,  rocked 
in  glee.  Wasn't  he  glad  he  had  seen  her  on  the 
veranda  at  Fading !  Well,  if  he  hadn  't  met  Clem 
first  he — but  he  was  most  loyal  to  Clem. 

"  You'll  have  to  call  on  the  Governor  at  once. 
That's  official!  "  he  told  her. 

' '  Yes,  I  suppose  so.  I  'm  quite  official  now,  my 
self." 

"  Certainly.  I'll  try  to  give  the  Pakky  an 
other  knot  so  as  to  be  sure  to  arrive  before  sun 
down." 

"  I've  letters  to  Major  and  Mrs.  Staton.  Do 
you  know  them  ?  ' '  she  asked. 

"Do  I?  The  Major's  just  all  soldier,  to  my 
mind.  And  Mrs.  Staton!  She  is  one  of  those 
women,  so  pleasant  and  simple,  that  nobody  can 


ELLEN  ARRIVES  345 

help  liking  her.  But  you  ought  to  know  that 
kind "  and  Clancy  recalled  that  he  had  prom 
ised  Clem  not  to  flirt. 

They  were  in  the  lee  of  the  land.  The  wake  of 
the  little  gunboat  creased  greasy  ripples  in  the 
sea.  Her  speed  made  a  trifling  breeze.  The  sun 
was  a  furnace's  round,  open  door,  in  a  sky  of  flam 
ing  yellow  on  the  western  horizon,  while  the  gleam 
of  the  sand  on  the  shore  under  the  cocoanut  palms, 
with  their  unmoving,  unreal,  glazed,  dark  plumes, 
suggested  the  still  heat  ashore. 

Miss  Ellen  Moore  was  nervous.  She  could  not 
deny  that  she  was,  even  to  herself,  over  that  pros 
pect  of  actually  seeing  Big  inside  of  an  hour. 
Clancy  had  an  irresistible  desire  to  be  present  at 
the  meeting,  fully  appreciating  that  it  was  not  a 
thing  to  ask.  He  received  the  most  delightful  of 
thanks  for  his  kindness,  but  no  invitation,  and 
found  himself  the  guardian  of  a  trunk  marked 
"  E.  M.,"  which  was  to  go  to  the  Statons'. 

In  her  American  gown  of  white  with  step  so 
alert  and  carriage  so  free,  she  made  the  natives, 
coming  out  of  their  houses  for  their  desultory 
promenade,  turn  to  look  at  this  new  phenomenon 
from  that  far-off,  incomprehensibly  energetic 
temperate  zone.  She  was  unconscious  of  their 
stares.  Her  nervousness  had  gone.  Anticipation 
was  supreme.  She  was  going  to  see  old  Big,  whose 
"  face  was  so  good  to  look  at,"  as  she  had  always 
said. 

This  was  his  island;  these  were  the  people  he 
ruled.  The  large  white  building  at  the  end  of  the 


346  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

plaza,  now  bathed  red  with  that  gorgeous  tropical 
sky's  change  of  mood  as  the  sun  sank  into  the 
sea,  was  his  home.  Somewhere  within  he  re 
ceived  the  petitioners,  the  plotters,  and  the  others 
who  came  up  the  stone  steps,  and  that  slim,  young 
fellow,  with  the  bulging  forehead  and  the  spec 
tacles,  must  be  Kiddy  Witherbee,  of  whom  she 
had  heard  but  had  never  met. 

"  Will  you  say  to  the  Governor  that  Miss 
Moore,  a  new  teacher,  has  come  to  pay  her  re 
spects!  "  she  told  Kiddy,  in  a  most  businesslike 
fashion. 

11  Yes,  indeed,"  said  Kiddy,  oh,  most  politely! 
and  when  he  told  the  Governor  he  added :  ' '  She 's 
very  good-looking,"  in  an  unofficial  opinion  ex 
pressing  an  emotion. 

' '  Is  she  f  That 's  bully !  That  fulfils  Don  Fran 
cisco 's  wish  for  a  charming  lady,"  said  the  Gov 
ernor,  rejoicing,  as  he  gayly  rose. 

"  Then  I'll  bring  her  in?  "  asked  Kiddy,  sol 
emnly. 

For  he  had  been  so  impressed  by  the  new 
teacher  that  he  had  asked  her  to  take  a  seat  in  his 
own  office.  It  had  not  looked  right  to  him  that 
she  should  stand  in  a  hall  for  even  ten  seconds. 

"  He  will  see  you,"  Kiddy  reported  to  Ellen. 
' i  Won 't  you  leave  your  parasol  1  "  he  asked,  hop 
ing  to  be  helpful  in  some  way. 

There  were  few  American  women  in  Bar,  and 
the  thought  that  such  a  one  as  this  Miss  Moore 
was  to  be  a  permanent  fixture  in  Takar  made  him 
grateful  to  Providence. 


ELLEN  ARRIVES  347 

"  They've  a  fine  school  building  for  you,"  he 
added,  after  she  had  told  him  she  would  keep  the 
parasol. 

Now,  this  was  a  great  moment  for  the  Big  Fel 
low.  He  was  about  to  meet  the  advance  guard  of 
that  propaganda  in  which  he  placed  his  faith  for 
the  future.  She  had  come  on  a  long  journey,  this 
charming  lady  who  was  to  be  the  divinity  of  Ex 
hibit  A,  and  she  must  have  a  welcome  that  would 
make  a  good  impression.  He  felt  of  his  string 
tie  to  see  if  the  knot  was  tight  up  to  the  collar  and 
he  placed  the  chair  for  visitors  at  a  better  angle 
to  his  own.  With  his  gladdest  smile,  our  Governor 
of  Bar  took  a  step  forward  as  the  lattice  doors 
swung  open  to  admit  the  first  teacher. 

But  he  did  not  finish  the  step,  at  least  not 
properly,  and  in  place  of  the  smile  was  a  look  of 
blank  incredulity.  He  was  a  dumbstruck,  groping 
giant,  with  all  his  unbidden  thoughts  focused  in 
a  vision.  If  it  had  been  in  the  middle  of  the  day 
he  would  have  thought  himself  heat-struck.  He 
went  pale  at  first  and  then  color  came  to  his 
cheeks,  as  he  put  his  hand  to  his  eyes  skeptically 
and  let  it  fall  to  the  side  of  the  desk,  on  which  he 
supported  himself. 

"  Ellen!    Ellen!    Is  it  really  you!  "  he  asked. 

She  was  standing  just  inside  the  door,  the 
bright  twilight  through  the  casement  on  her  face 
which  was  perplexed,  inquiring,  fearful,  defiant, 
smiling  in  relish  of  the  situation. 

"  I  think  it's  I.  Indeed,  I  am  quite  sure  it  is !  " 
she  answered. 


348  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

He  saw  that  there  was  no  doubt  of  her  reality 
and  then  it  seemed  as  if  he  were  shouting  aloud 
his  welcome ;  but  his  lips  did  not  open. 

"  Aren't  you  going  to  shake  hands,  Big?  "  she 
asked. 

For  all  the  advantage  was  on  her  side.  She  had 
been  the  cause  of  the  surprise  and  she  could  enjoy 
its  dramatic  effect.  Oh,  that  French  and  Irish 
blood! 

Her  question  brought  him  to  himself.  Now  he 
was  smiling ;  he  was  laughing,  with  all  the  light  of 
sunrise  in  his  eyes.  Seizing  her  hands  he  drew 
her  toward  the  window,  as  he  drank  in  his  fill  of 
her  presence. 

6 '  Ellen !  Ellen !  This  is  bringing  home  to  Bar ! 
Ellen,  why  did  you  come?  "  he  asked. 

She  had  her  stereotyped  answer  ready. 

"  It's  double  pay  for  abc's  and  no  'math  '!  " 

"  And  why  didn't  you  tell  me?  " 

"  Why  didn't  I?  "  She  frowned.  There  was 
no  stereotyped  answer  to  this.  "  Why,  I  dealt 
directly  with  the  Department  in  Washington. 
And  is  it  the  custom  in  Bar  for  the  Governor  to 
hold  the  teachers'  hands  when  they  make  official 
calls?  "  she  added. 

He  had  been  looking  at  her  in  a  way  that  any 
woman  ought  to  have  understood  had  she  been 
seeking  the  thing  which  his  eyes  spoke.  He  had 
the  winning  impulse  not  to  let  her  go,  but,  never 
theless,  he  did. 

"  Well,  when  she  was  the  partner  of  Mister 
Ninety  in  Calculus !  A  big  brother  has  priv- 


ELLEN  ARRIVES  349 

ileges,"  he  returned,  trying  to  play  the  game. 
"  And  I  always  do  offer  a  chair  to  visitors. " 

But  she  preferred  to  lean  against  the  desk. 

"  And  didn't  the  Department  inform  you!  " 
she  asked. 

"  Yes,  one  Miss  Moore  was  named,"  he  said. 

'  '  And  of  course  you  were  not  thinking  of  me !  ' 
she  said.    i '  You  were  busy  with  your  work. 9  ' 

"  I  wasn't  thinking  of  you  as  being  in  Bar.  I 
was  hoping  that " 

"  Yes.  I  wrote  to  Aunt  Julia.  I  said  all  I 
could,  but  I  couldn't  go  home  till  she " 

"No!  Never!"  he  told  her.  "You  were 
right." 

"  And,  Big,  how  is  the  work?  Are  you  win 
ning!  "  she  asked,  with  sudden  intensity.  She 
thought  he  looked  thinner  and  she  was  sure  he 
had  lost  color. 

"  It's  been  a  hard  pull  and  pretty  lonesome," 
he  said.  ' '  But  now  I  begin  to  see  a  few  rays  of 
light." 

"  Oh,  it's  all  new  to  me,  all  a  wonderland !  I've 
so  much  to  learn!  But  having  first  paid  my  of 
ficial  call,  as  duty  bound,  on  my  superior  officer, 
Your  Excellency  " — here  she  made  a  bow — "  I 
must  hurry  to  Mrs.  Staton's  and  pay  my  re 
spects." 

"  No.  You're  staying  here  to  dinner,"  he 
answered.  "  And  I'm  not  an  Excellency.  That's 
a  Spanish  custom  I  seem  unable  to  overcome." 

"  But,  really,  Big,  I  better "   she  began, 

strangely. 


350  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  Why,  the  Statons  are  coming  here  to  din 
ner!  "  he  rejoined. 

"  They  are?  " 

"  Yes,  I  know  they  are!  "  he  declared,  boldly, 
and  sat  down  to  the  military  telephone. 

"  Yes,  the  new  teacher's  here!  "  he  said  at  his 
end.  "  Oh,  Clancy  told  you  who  she  was.  No  get 
ting  ahead  of  Clancy.  .  .  .  Oh,  never  mind  if 
you  have  roast  fowl;  so've  we,  and  the  sauce  of 
conversation.  No,  I'll  not  take  no.  And  tell 
Clancy  to  come  along,  too." 

"  There,  didn't  I  tell  you  the  Statons  were  com 
ing  to  dinner!  "  he  said,  as  he  hung  up  the  re 
ceiver.  "  And  Mrs.  Staton  says  you're  to  make 
her  house  your  home  as  long  as  you  please. ' ' 

"  But,  Big,  I  applied  for  one  of  the  rural 
schools,"  she  demurred.  "  I  shall  be  going  into 
the  country  right  away." 

"  No.  Two  miles  from  town  and  you're  to  ride 
out  and  in  every  day." 

"  Oh!  "  she  exclaimed  in  a  prolonged  breath, 
and  looked  away  from  him. 

Then  she  was  to  be  near  him  all  the  time !  Then 
it  would  appear  as  if  she  had  come  to  seek  him! 
This  presented  a  new  problem.  It  occurred  to  her 
that  she  had  done  a  terrible  thing,  outraging  all 
the  proprieties  of  her  heart.  She  must  ask  to  be 
transferred  to  the  country.  In  this  second  of  her 
silence  he  saw  her  clear,  pure  profile  in  the  glow 
of  that  swiftly  dying  twilight,  so  fresh  and  so 
beautiful. 

"  Ellen!  "  he  said  quietly,  without  any  response 


ELLEN  ARRIVES  351 

from  her;  for  she  it  was  now,  her  imagination 
busy,  who  was  at  a  loss  for  a  word. 

That  winning  impulse  was  in  his  mind  again.  A 
storm  of  words  was  knocking  for  exit.  He  was 
afraid  of  the  very  strength  of  his  love  which  was 
like  the  strength  of  his  nature  when  it  was  in 
action,  bearing  down  on  an  object.  And  gently  he 
had  spoken  that  "  Ellen,"  and  he  was  gentle  in 
the  way  that  a  big  man,  fearing  that  he  will  be  in 
considerate,  may  be. 

He  thought  of  her  side.  Evidently  she  did  not 
want  a  school  near  the  city,  fearing  the  embarrass 
ment  that  would  come  from  his  love,  which,  in  his 
ignorance,  he  believed  that  she  knew.  Driven 
from  home,  she  had  not  come  to  Bar  on  his  account 
or  through  his  influence — or  wouldn't  she  have 
written  him  of  her  plan! — but  to  earn  the  double 
pay  with  which,  in  the  declaration  of  freedom  from 
dependence,  he  feared  that  she  meant  to  pay  off 
that  hateful  debt. 

But  he  did  have  her  near  him.  She  had  brought 
a  part  of  home  to  Bar.  She  was  actually  there, 
livening  that  bare  room  where  he  worked  into  the 
room  of  a  real  palace,  and  she  would  be  living 
only  across  the  plaza  at  Major  Staton's. 

"  Two  Braids!  "  he  exclaimed,  in  a  glad  im 
pulse  of  fellowship  and  thankfulness.  "  Two 
Braids !  Partner  in  secrets !  ' ' — at  least  she  would 
not  deny  him  this. 

She  looked  full  at  him,  smiling. 

"  Well,  Big,  partner  in  secrets?  "  she  returned, 


352  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  Two  Braids,  this  is  the  biggest  task  I've  had 
yet.  It's  a  great  work  and  I  must  do  it !  "he  said. 

"  And  never  mind  the  splinters.  You'll  win, 
Big, ' '  she  answered,  brightly. 

' '  And  you  can  help !  ' 

He  slipped  his  hand  over  hers  which  lay  on  the 
desk,  and  through  both  ran  such  a  thrill  of  part 
nership  as  there  ran  on  the  night  she  bade  him 
Godspeed  to  his  fight  for  fortune  in  the  city. 

"  I  can?  Honestly  I  can?  "  she  cried,  all 
aglow,  nostrils  quivering  and  eyes  speaking 
more  than  words  can.  Oh,  that  French  and  Irish 
blood! 

"  Yes.  You're  to  be  Exhibit  A.  You  are  to  be 
the  Charming  Lady  to  show  the  way.  You  are  to 
convince  the  Presidentes  what  a  good  thing 
schools  are !  ' 

"  I'll  do  my  best — my  very  best — for  your  great 
work,  Big,"  she  answered,  "  and  obey  orders  like 
a  soldier, ' '  she  added,  happily. 

With  the  Big  Fellow  bending  forward  in  his 
chair  while  she,  leaning  on  the  desk,  looked  down 
into  his  eyes,  they  talked.  Kiddy  Witherbee, 
starting  to  come  through  the  door,  saw  them  and 
withdrew,  without  really  telling  even  himself  what 
he  had  seen.  Truly,  he  was  the  most  discreet  of 
secretaries. 

The  two  were  still  talking  when  the  Statons  and 
Clancy  arrived,  and  triumphantly  the  Big  Fellow 
introduced  Ellen  with  all  his  gift  of  carrying  any 
company  with  him. 

"  This  is  the  Miss  Two  Braids  that  we  brought 


ELLEN  ARRIVES  353 

up  in  our  old  house  at  home, ' '  he  said.    ' '  This  is 
the  new  teacher  of  Exhibit  A. ' ' 

Thus  the  situation  was  clarified.  Thus  a  new 
bargain,  without  any  formal  admission,  had  been 
struck  in  the  consciousness  of  both.  It  con 
templated  no  knowledge  on  her  part  of  his  true 
feelings  toward  her,  he  thought.  She  saw  herself 
freed  from  suspicion  on  his  part  that  she  had 
come  for  any  reason  except  abc's  for  double  pay. 
Natural,  easy,  pleasant  working  relations  were 
established. 


XXXI 


CLOTHING    THE    NAKED    WITH    ABC's 


WAS  there  ever  before  such  a  man  as  Wil 
liam  Winterburn  Worth,  of  the  Society 
of  the  Word?  Take  a  vote  of  all  the 
Americans  in  Bar  and  you  would  have  had  a 
unanimous,  Never !  Since  his  arrival  a  week  after 
the  first  landing  party  he  had  not  been  off  the  job 
a  single  day,  in  the  words  of  Sergeant  Smith,  of 
Company  B,  of  the  Sixty-Fifth,  who  ought  to 
know.  William  Winterburn  Worth  looked  as  if  he 
would  roll  up  in  the  heat  like  a  leaf  on  a  griddle 
(to  quote  the  same  authority),  but  the  sun  must 
have  found  nothing  on  his  bones  to  melt  and 
leniently  passed  him  by  as  not  worth  while. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  fighting  before  the 
guerrilla  horrors,  while  there  was  still  an  enemy 
in  being  that  you  might  locate,  you  saw  him  going 
from  camp  to  camp  with  slung  bag  and  pockets 
full  of  tracts,  saying,  as  he  passed  out  his  leaflets : 

' '  Boys,  while  you  are  fighting  for  your  country, 
here  is  a  little  food  for  your  soul." 

At  first  the  tired  soldiers  wished  he  would  make 
it  a  piece  of  pie  or  a  package  of  tobacco  and 
laughed  about  him.  But  a  brave  man  is  a  brave 
man,  whether  there  is  a  bottle  or  a  hymnbook  in 

354 


CLOTHING  THE  NAKED  WITH  ABC'S    355 

the  back  pocket  of  his  khaki  breeches;  and  when 
they  saw  the  little  missionary  holding  fast  to  his 
tracts  under  fire,  keeping  up  cheerfully  on  the 
march,  and  helping  the  wounded,  they  initiated 
him  into  full  membership  of  the  confraternity  of 
fighting  blood. 

"  William  Winterburn  Worth  is  my  name,"  he 
would  say,  "  but  they  call  me  W.  W.  for  short. " 

W.  W.  he  became  in  barracks  and  on  trail.  The 
troops  began  to  read  his  leaflets  just  to  please  him. 
1 '  That  was  a  pretty  long  one,  that  last, ' '  a  soldier 
would  say;  or,  "  Don't  put  in  any  more  milk  and 
honey  references.  It  makes  us  homesick  for  apple, 
mince,  and  brown  the  wheats;"  or,  "  That  one 
about  the  sword  of  Gideon  was  to  the  point, 
W.  W." 

1 1  Yes,  I  thought  that  would  be  appropriate. 
Boys,  I  do  do  you  some  good,  don't  I!  "  he  some 
times  asked,  wistfully. 

"  You  do  us  all  a  hellofalot  of  a  good,"  said 
Sergeant  Smith,  of  Company  B,  earnestly. 

By  which  William  Winterburn  Worth  knew  that 
the  adjectival  language  with  which  soldiers  keep 
dragging  legs  on  the  move  when  they  carry  a  Krag 
and  a  hundred  and  fifty  rounds  had  no  sin  in  it; 
and  by  which  he  knew,  also,  to  his  satisfaction,  that 
the  benefit  referred  to  was  spiritual  and  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  Syndicate. 

Whether  that  Pie  Syndicate  was  born  in  the 
head  of  Mrs.  Staton  or  W.  W.,  who  would  give  all 
the  credit  to  her,  this  history  cannot  say.  Cir 
cumstances  point  rather  to  W.  W.  as  having  de- 


356  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

veloped  it  from  his  experience  in  observing  the 
inedibility  of  tracts.  Mrs.  Staton,  however,  did 
give  the  lessons  in  the  art  of  making  to  the  puta 
tive  Tongalese  cooks,  whose  first  results  bore 
packing  better  than  hard  tack.  But  it  is  on  the 
records  of  a  thousand  palates  that  they  improved 
with  time.  Far  into  the  interior  traveled  these 
discs  which  gave  heart  and  sustenance  and  con 
tent  to  American  manhood  and  pinned  to  every 
one,  you  may  be  sure,  was  a  leaflet  of  the  Society 
of  the  Word. 

Naturally,  W.  W.  enthused  over  the  school  cam 
paign,  for  it  held  out  the  prospect  of  the  Tongals 
reading  the  Word  in  English.  He  was  fond  of 
parables  and  similes,  and  he  went  among  the  par 
ents  of  Bowang,  saying:  "  Your  children  will 
come  to  us  naked  and  we  will  clothe  them  with 
learning;  "  and  he  was  the  first  to  call  socially, 
without  his  bag  of  tracts,  though  with  a  few  in 
his  pocket  for  First  Aid  in  case  of  an  emergency, 
on  Miss  Ellen  Moore,  who  was  taken  into  the  heart 
of  the  Staton  family  in  short  order.  The  Major 
was  almost  talkative  on  her  account,  being  known 
to  have  committed  himself,  without  any  apparent 
injury  to  his  throat,  of  a  dozen  relative  clauses 
during  dinner  at  the  Palace. 

"  It  is  beautiful!  It  is  beautiful!  "  said  Don 
Francisco,  after  his  first  interview  with  the  new 
schoolmistress;  which  is  what  W.  W.  said,  and 
Mrs.  Staton  wondered  whether  they  referred  to 
the  idea  of  primary  education  or  to  the  person  of 
Miss  Ellen  Moore.  Both  were  beautiful,  and  we 


CLOTHING  THE  NAKED  WITH  ABC'S     357 

will  leave  it  at  that.  Besides,  the  second  disciple 
whispered  in  the  Governor's  ear: 

' '  It  was  a  good  risk  we  took,  Excellency. ' ' 

At  a  luncheon  on  the  day  after  her  arrival  at 
the  Major's,  with  the  Governor,  W.  W.,  Father 
Tim  and  others  present,  all  being  for  the  moment 
educational  experts,  they  spoke  of  nothing  much 
except  that  school.  The  assistant  overseer  had 
everything  ready,  but  he  would  not  tell  Ellen 
many  details. 

"  Excellency,"  he  said  to  the  Governor,  "  I 
would  let  our  first  teacher  see  with  her  own  eyes, 
as  a  surprise  "  (which  it  was,  no  one  can  deny). 
' '  I  have  chosen  only  the  little  children,  none  over 
eight,  for  the  primary.  That  is  better.  It  will  win 
their  parents.  It  will  be  more — beautiful. ' ' 

Don  Francisco  was  a  pretty  good  politician,  as 
we  know,  and  he  knew  that  native  mind.  So  by 
common  consent  all  the  details  were  left  to 
him. 

"  Does  the  lady  approve  of  the  little  ones 
only?  "  he  asked,  with  his  best  bow.  "  She  will 
not  think  it  too  simple  for  one  of  the  high  educa 
tion  from  America  1  ' ' 

"  Oh,  the  little  ones,  by  all  means !  "  said  Ellen. 
"  I  do  not  want  to  teach  grown  folks  abc's,  and 
I'm  fairly  wild  to  see  them  and  begin.  I'm  glad 
it's  to-morrow. " 

It  had  been  Don  Francisco 's  plan  to  precede  the 
party  the  next  morning  to  make  sure  that  all  was 
right.  How  he  wished,  later  on,  that  he  had!  A 
little  persuasion  from  the  others  who  wanted  his 


358  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

company,  and  he  sent  word  to  one  of  the  leading 
fathers,  on  whom  he  could  depend,  that  all  the 
pupils  were  to  be  in  their  seats  inside  the  school- 
house  at  nine. 

Ensign  Clancy  took  the  party  on  the  Paktowan, 
as  by  the  river,  he  said,  the  trip  could  be  made 
quicker  than  by  land,  and  principally,  because  it 
pleased  him  to  have  an  excuse  to  play  the  host. 
The  Governor,  Major  and  Mrs.  Staton,  W.  W.,  and 
Father  Tim  would  not  have  missed  the  occasion 
for  any  bribe;  but  the  General  and  Mrs.  Strong 
were  suffering  from  the  heat.  By  Strings  Nos.  3 
and  4  old  Prairie  Fire  would  not  be  party  to  any 
programme  of  teaching  a  lot  of  brown  brats  how 
to  kill  American  soldiers.  To  him,  the  abe's  were 
loaded  with  dynamite. 

Don  Francisco  was  standing  beside  Ellen  watch 
ing  her  as  they  rounded  the  bend.  What  would 
she  say  after  the  higher  education  in  the  noble 
edifices  at  home  to  his  poor  effort  to  please  ?  She 
promptly  called  for  a  cheer  at  sight  of  the  poor 
effort.  Don  Francisco  had  cleared  a  bluff  on  the 
river  bank.  From  a  pole  floated  the  flag  which 
looks  well  over  any  schoolhouse.  This  school- 
house,  however,  was  not  a  little  red  one.  It  was  a 
creation  of  bamboo,  with  a  thatch  of  nipa  palms, 
on  stilts  for  the  rainy  season,  and  a  bamboo  ladder 
leading  up  to  the  door. 

Everything  seemed  to  be  as  planned.  The  par 
ents  were  gathered  around  the  house  in  unblink 
ing,  grave  curiosity,  and  evidently  the  pupils  were 
all  inside.  With  the  Presidente  and  Ellen  leading 


CLOTHING  THE  NAKED  WITH  ABC'S     359 

— for  were  not  the  honors  theirs ?  as  the  Governor 
said — the  party  left  the  PaJctowan.  Ellen  could 
not  wait  on  formality. 

"  Oh,  I'd  like  to  see  them  first  quite  alone!  " 
she  said,  running  ahead.  "  You  follow.  The 
teacher  leads. " 

' l  A  fine  woman !  A  fine  woman !  ' '  said  Father 
Tim.  "  Now,  if  the  others  that  are  coming  are 
like  her,  we'll  simply  charm  these  islands  into 
peace." 

As  she  went  up  the  bamboo  ladder,  William 
Winterburn  Worth,  who  could  be  poetic  on  oc 
casion,  was  thinking  that  her  light  steps  were 
steps  in  history.  Ellen  entered  and  saw  rows  of 
popping  eyes,  showing  their  whites  at  the  appari 
tion,  and  rows  of  brown  faces,  and  the  next  the 
others  knew  she  was  precipitately  coming  down 
the  ladder  with  her  hands  held  up  to  her  blushing 
face. 

"  I — I  didn't  know  they  were — were  like  that !  " 
she  gasped. 

"  What  is  it?  "  the  official  party  all  asked  at 
once. 

Ellen  only  turned  her  head  away  from  them, 
with  her  lips  screwed  together  and  twitching,  too 
full  of  emotion  to  answer. 

All  the  men  sprang  to  the  rescue.  It  was 
the  Governor,  well  in  the  lead,  who  entered  first. 
He  simply  could  not  help  breaking  into  laughter, 
while  Father  Tim  sniffed  through  his  nose  and  his 
blue  eyes  radiated  the  inexpressible  as  he  looked 
at  those  rows  of  brown  children  in  purls 


360  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

ralibus,  keeping  their  places  quite  as  bidden  and 
possibly  thinking  that  the  Governor's  laugh  was 
a  part  of  the  educational  programme. 

Poor  W.  W. !  He  stuttered  and  turned  red  and 
turned  green.  Hadn't  he  said  that  "  they  should 
come  in  their  nakedness  and  be  clothed  with 
learning!  '  He  was  to  blame — all  to  blame,  he 
thought ;  but  we  are  not  so  sure  that  he  was.  As 
Father  Tim  said,  there  might  have  been  a  few 
shirts  if  it  had  not  been  for  W.  W.'s  miscarried 
good  intentions;  though,  generally  speaking,  it 
was  in  keeping  with  the  rural  custom  for  children 
of  that  age. 

Don  Francisco,  a  man  of  action  and  decision, 
grasped  the  situation  at  once.  His  first  duty  was 
to  prevent  a  still  greater  calamity.  School  must 
not  be  dismissed  until  the  Paktowan  was  back 
around  the  bend.  He  told  the  lot  of  popping  black 
retinas  in  the  white  balls  that  they  were  to  wait 
till  he  gave  the  word,  and  they  said,  "  Yes,  Senor," 
all  in  chorus,  like  so  many  automatic  dolls.  Back 
in  the  yard  the  Big  Fellow  could  not  resist  laugh 
ing  again.  He  was  ashamed  of  himself  and  he 
was  a  most  undignified  Governor,  he  knew.  Don 
Francisco's  stolid  chagrin  only  added  to  the 
humor  of  the  situation. 

"  The  little  innocents!"  said  Father  Tim. 
"  They  were  so  unconscious  of  it!  '  Inadver 
tently  he  caught  Mrs.  Staton's  eye  and  Mrs. 
Staton  promptly  dropped  her  parasol  in  front  of 
her  face. 

"  Stop!  "  she  said,  thickly. 


CLOTHING  THE  NAKED  WITH  ABC'S    361 

"  Stop!  "  cried  poor  W.  W.,  tragically,  on  gen 
eral  principles. 

Ellen,  having  recovered  herself,  demurred  at 
the  suggestion  that  they  should  return  to  Takar 
and  wait  until  another  day.  Why  shouldn't  the 
class  go  out  the  back  door  to  their  homes  and  re 
turn  with  only  their  minds  naked? 

This  plan  Don  Francisco  soberly  saw  carried 
out,  while  the  party  waited  under  the  shade  of  a 
mango  tree.  Then  all  went  up  the  ladder,  Don 
Francisco  leading,  and  on  a  word  from  him  all 
the  youngsters  bobbed  up  and  said  in  chorus,  as 
they  had  been  taught,  '  *  Greeting,  Senorita !  We 
will  strive  to  learn!  Viva!  "  and  then  bobbed 
down  again,  all  those  popping  eyes  out  of  expres 
sionless  faces  regarding  the  Charming  Lady  in 
Oriental  curiosity,  while  all  the  native  women  out 
side  were  wondering  how  she  made  her  gown  fit 
so  well. 

"  Now,  let's  have  a  lesson,"  said  the  Gov 
ernor  to  Ellen.  "  You're  on  trial !  " 

' l  I  expected  that  from  you!  ' '  she  answered,  in 
lively  defiance. 

She  picked  up  an  ant  off  the  floor — the  nearest 
one — and  held  it  up  for  all  to  see.  They  knew 
what  it  was.  They  knew  it  by  millions,  and  they 
shouted  its  Tongal  name. 

"  A-N-T!  "  she  said  in  English;  and  turning  to 
the  blackboard  she  wrote  A-N-T,  and  began  spell 
ing  it  to  them  and  having  them  repeat  it  after 
her. 

"  You'll  have  to  wait  and  stand,  too,  till  they 


362  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

have  learned  it,  Excellency/7  she  interjected,  in 

the  midst  of  the  lesson. 

'  '  You  win !  "  he  answered.    ' '  All  right. ' ' 

He  waited  and  all  did  learn  it;  and  thus  the 

abc  campaign  was  begun  in  the  island. 


XXXII 

MISS  TWO   BBAIDS  EEDIVIVUS 

SO  Ellen  became  known  as  the  Charming  Lady 
to  the  natives  of  Takar.  Every  morning  she 
rode  out  to  Bowang,  the  plantain  leaves, 
which  she  pushed  to  one  side  along  the  trail,  spat 
tering  her  skirt  with  dew,  and  the  people,  whose 
children  were  in  her  school,  greeting  her  with 
their  "  Good-morning,  Charming  Lady!" 

But  she  rarely  went  or  returned  alone.  Major 
and  Mrs.  Staton  often  came  to  meet  her,  and 
Sergeant  Smith,  of  Company  B,  riding  at  her 
side,  in  expressing  his  view  of  the  good  she  was 
doing  those  brown  boys  and  girls,  took  great  care 
to  make  it  simply  "  a  lot."  Once,  however,  he 
did  slip: 

"  Father  Tim  says  they  are  only  adjectival  ac 
celerators,"  he  stammered,  in  explanation,  "  and 
they  don't  count  against  you  in  the  high  place." 

"  I  can  understand  how  they  may  help  on  the 
march,"  Ellen  said,  brightly. 

"  They  do,  a — a  lot!  "  he  declared,  honestly  be 
lieving  that  they  did. 

"I've  seen  times  when  I'd  like  to  use  one,  my 
self,"  she  returned.  "I've  thought  them  even 
if  I  didn't  speak  them." 

368 


364  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  My  goodness!  "  he  exclaimed. 

If  it  were  not  Smith  it  was  someone  else  who 
had  the  honor  of  being  her  escort.  Once  Parko- 
witz  offered  himself,  and  the  story  of  the  way, 
with  a  glance  and  a  few  words,  in  which  she  put 
him  in  his  place  pleased  the  garrison.  Clancy, 
when  he  had  a  few  hours  between  the  fruitless 
trips  on  which  he  was  being  sent  by  General 
Prairie  Fire,  would  run  the  Paktowan  against 
the  bank  at  the  foot  of  the  flagstaff  of  the  school- 
grounds  and  maybe  bring  the  Charming  Lady 
home  by  water.  He  was  getting  so  few  letters 
from  Clem  now  that  he  found  a  genuine  solace  for 
his  disquietude  about  her  in  watching  Ellen  at 
the  abc's. 

And  the  Governor  was  often  her  companion  on 
that  morning  ride,  when  he  was  not  away  in  the 
provinces  trying  to  make  more  "  nucleuses,"  as 
Don  Francisco  called  them.  That  working  ar 
rangement  formed  on  the  day  of  her  arrival  was 
playing  its  part  well.  She  was  Two  Braids  again 
and  he  was  the  Big  of  old,  holding  council  and 
sharing  secrets.  He  saw  her  enjoying  her  work 
and  bringing  cheer  to  everyone. 

"  I  am  really  helping?  "  she  asked  him  many 
times. 

4 '  More  than  you  can  guess,  Two  Braids.  Your 
coming  was  a  Godsend  to  me,"  he  said.  "  Your 
school  is  the  keystone  of  all  my  plans  for  the 
future." 

This  abc  idea  was  the  hardest  thing  Cortina 
had  to  combat.  Parental  human  nature  did  seem 


MISS  TWO  BRAIDS  REDIVIVUS          365 

something  the  same  in  Bar  as  elsewhere,  as  the 
Big  Fellow,  out  of  his  knowledge  of  the  humani 
ties  and  the  thousand  books,  had  maintained. 
.Fathers  and  mothers  were  glad  to  have  their  chil- 
'dren  learn.  Don  Francisco  came  frequently  with 
his  parties  of  inspection  to  see  Exhibit  A.  Old 
head  men  of  villages  from  up  country  would 
gravely  watch  the  Charming  Lady  at  her  work 
and  depart  convinced  that  popular  education  was 
a  beautiful  idea. 

The  Thinker,  however,  was  not  idle.  Plotting 
so  easily  under  Prairie  Fire's  nose,  through 
his  underground  route  he  sent  out  his  answer 
to  the  abc's.  The  Americans,  having  failed  at 
fighting,  had  found  a  new  and  cunning  trick.  They 
would  win  the  parents  through  the  children,  and 
when  this  was  done,  that  would  be  the  end 
of  schools  and  the  beginning  of  slavery.  Thus 
he  aroused  enmity  enough  to  warrant  the  guer 
rillas  in  burning  some  of  the  new  schoolhouses 
that  Don  Francisco  was  building. 

"  But  there  is  another  way,"  thought  Cor 
tina.  If  he  could  only  capture  the  Charming  Lady 
herself,  then  the  people  would  see  how  little  there 
was  in  this  abc  magic.  Yes,  capture  her  within 
two  miles  of  the  capital. 

At  first,  by  Major  Staton's  order,  a  squad  of 
soldiers  had  always  been  stationed  at  the  school. 
By  the  General's  order  and  without  the  Gov 
ernor's  knowledge  they  were  withdrawn,  though 
no  one  thought  it  possible  that  any  party  of  insur- 
rectoes  would  approach  the  outskirts  of  the  town, 


366  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

and  none  did.  The  score  or  more  came  as  indi 
viduals  to  a  given  point  in  the  brush,  and,  just 
as  Ellen  was  beginning  her  morning  lesson,  with 
their  boloes  in  hand  they  ran  across  the  school- 
ground  and  up  the  ladder  in  barefooted  stealth. 
She  turned  from  the  blackboard  to  see  them. 

"  Seiiorita,  you  will  come  with  us,"  said  the 
leader. 

Instinctively  she  looked  around  for  some 
weapon.  The  nearest  approach  to  one  was  the 
frail  blackboard  pointer,  which  was  useless,  of 
course. 

"  You  will  go  and  go  instantly!"  she  com 
manded.  "  Yes,  you  will  go  instantly  or  you  will 
not  have  time  to  escape  our  soldiers!  They  are 
here  in  hiding.  I  have  only  to  scream  to  warn 
them." 

"  No,  senorita,  none  is  nearer  than  town,"  said 
the  little  leader,  grinning  at  her  subterfuge. 

A  few  of  the  older  children  had  gathered 
around  her  in  a  hopeless  kind  of  loyalty.  The 
others  fled  out  of  the  back  door,  and  she  knew 
they  would  carry  the  news.  She  had  no  sense  of 
fear  yet.  Relief  would  come,  she  thought,  and 
her  first  object  should  be  to  gain  time. 

"  Tongals  are  always  polite,"  she  remarked, 
and  wondered  that  her  voice  sounded  so  natural. 
"  You  will  let  me  put  on  my  hat  before  we  start." 

She  was  very  leisurely  about  this,  even  trying 
to  laugh  over  a  pretended  mistake  in  having  stuck 
a  pin  into  something  more  solid  than  hair. 

' '  Come !    We  cannot  wait  on  tricks !  ' '  and  the 


MISS  TWO  BRAIDS  REDIVIVUS          367 

little  man  with  the  bolo  put  his  hand  on  her  arm. 
She  shook  it  off,  and  saw  that  the  others  were 
pressing  closer.  Anything  but  that  they  should 
touch  her,  was  her  thought.  And  still  she  was  con 
fident  that  help  would  come  as  she  went  down 
the  ladder  with  her  captors.  No  one  was  in  sight 
in  the  grounds,  and,  with  half  of  the  band  in  single 
file  ahead  of  her  and  half  behind,  they  took  up 
the  trail  along  the  river  bank. 

When  they  told  her  that  she  was  walking  too 
slowly  she  took  a  few  steps  more  rapidly,  and 
later  with  her  dignity  and  command  of  self  kept 
the  leader  at  his  distance  when  he  threatened  to 
use  force.  It  struck  her  as  ridiculous,  as  well 
as  tragic  and  inconceivable,  that  she  should  be  led 
through  the  jungle  by  these  miserable  little 
ruffians. 

When  the  trail  broke  into  a  clearing  her  quick 
ear  was  the  first  to  hear  the  engines  of  the 
Paktowan,  which  was  coming  around  the  bend. 
Clancy  caught  sight  of  her  white  gown  at  the 
same  moment.  He  could  not  fire  without  endan 
gering  her,  as  she  realized  instantly.  Her  swift 
glance  for  cover  was  rewarded. 

11  Fire!  "  she  cried,  at  the  top  of  her  voice,  as 
she  dropped  into  the  crotch  of  the  shelving  roots 
of  a  big  tree  and  snuggled  there. 

Clancy  at  the  Colt's  lost  not  a  second.  Swish 
came  the  stream  of  bullets.  They  were  so  close 
to  her,  and  yet  she  was  as  safe  as  if  behind  armor ! 
For  an  instant  she  closed  her  eyes.  When  she 
opened  them  that  little  leader  of  the  band  was 


368  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

lying  dead  so  near  her  that  she  could  reach  his 
revolver.  Without  any  squeamishness  she  took 
it  from  his  holster  and  then  looked  around  de 
fiantly,  feeling  really  safe  for  the  first  time.  In 
this  position  Clancy  found  her  when  he  and  his 
crew,  all  with  rifles,  including  Ah  Fong,  the 
Chinese  cook,  came  dashing  up  the  bank  in  pur 
suit  of  any  members  of  the  band  that  the  Colt's 
had  not  cared  for. 

"  What  luck!  "  said  Clancy.  "  I  must  have 
reached  the  school  not  less  than  five  minutes  after 
you  went  and  I  guessed  they'd  take  this  trail." 

' '  Oh,  Clancy !  '  She  was  weak  and  faint,  now, 
as  he  assisted  her  to  rise. 

'  '  What  a  girl  you  are !  What  savey  for  you  to 
cry  Fire!  and  jump  behind  that  tree,  which  gave 
me  just  the  chance  I  wanted!  "  he  said;  and  he 
was  going  to  let  her  lean  on  his  shoulder  as  they 
went  down  the  hill  to  the  Paktoivan.  But  she  was 
quite  herself  again  and  disdained  any  aid,  as  she 
chattered  nervously. 

I   must   tell    Sergeant    Smith,"    said   Ellen, 

that  I  wanted  to  use  a  lot  of  adjectival 
accelerators,  myself,  when  that  miserable  little 
ruffian — ugh!  I  had  no  idea  that  bullets  could 
sound  so  sweet.  Oh,  the  Pakky  looked  bigger  and 
finer  to  me  than  any  battleship !  ' ' 

"  A  battleship  wouldn't  have  been  much  use 
for  this  job,  would  she?  "  said  he,  proudly.  "  The 
Pakky  is  a  great  command !  ' ' 

"  And  you're  her  Lord  High  Admiral  and  al 
ways  on  the  spot!  " 


14 

i  . 


MISS  TWO  BRAIDS  REDIVIVUS          369 

6 '  With  perfect  cooperation  from  the  land  forces 
on  this  occasion,  Charming  Lady !  My !  What  a 
girl  you  are!  "  he  declared,  in  his  transparent 
manner  of  the  sea. 

By  the  time  they  returned  to  the  school,  Com 
pany  B  came  tearing  along  the  trail,  with  murder 
and  hate  in  its  eyes,  the  Governor  and  Staton 
leading.  Ellen  was  embarrassed  by  all  the  atten 
tion  showered  on  her,  while  the  Governor  in  tears 
shook  Clancy  and  patted  him  and  thanked  him. 

"  You'll  have  the  largest  escort  home  you  ever 
had,"  said  the  Major  to  Ellen. 

"  But  I'm  not  going!  The  idea!  "  she  flared. 
"  I'm  mad  clear  through!  Please  summon  the 
children  back.  I'll  finish  the  morning  lesson!  >: 

What  about  your  French  and  Irish  blood,  now, 
Aunt  Julia?  And  you  folks  out  Plymouth  Rock 
way,  as  you  sit  before  your  Thanksgiving  turkey 
and  think  of  the  brave  old  days  when  the  Indian 
arrow  through  the  window  nailed  the  textbook  to 
the  school-mistress's  table,  pray  don't  overeat 
in  your  fears  that  the  old  spirit  is  dying  out ! 

But  Ellen  would  not  hear  to  Big  writing  home 
the  story  of  the  affair,  which  she  never  liked 
to  have  anybody  mention.  Besides,  all  danger 
was  over.  Even  the  General  did  not  object  to  a 
guard  at  Bowang  thereafter.  If  that  were  not 
enough,  Benito  rigged  up  a  punka  at  the  school 
and  through  the  session,  which  was  held  in  the 
morning,  he  would  sit  outside  the  door,  steadily 
pulling  and  perfectly  ready  to  hit  the  head  of 
a  snake. 


xxxm 

ELLEN    WRITES   TO   THE   PERSONALITY 

MY !  What  a  girl !  Clancy  would  keep  say 
ing  this  to  himself  on  his  sea-marches. 
He  was  sure  that  Clem  would  never  have 
had  the  sense  to  take  cover  and  cry  "  Fire!  "  in 
the  way  that  Ellen  had.  My!  What  a  girl!  The 
Lord  High  Admiral  in  wondering  admiration 
sought  her  company  when  he  was  in  port,  which 
often  brought  him  to  the  Governor's  veranda, 
where,  in  the  cool  of  the  evening,  so  delicious  after 
the  heat  of  the  day,  you  would  find  at  one  time 
or  another  Ellen  and  the  Statons ;  Thompson,  the 
young  engineer;  Horswell,  the  young  Australian, 
assistant  to  Parkowitz;  Father  Tim,  and  W.  W. 
and  officers  of  the  garrison. 

By  their  very  handicaps  this  little  band  of 
friends  was  held  together.  All  hoped  against 
odds,  including  Thompson,  who  had  a  good  coal 
prospect.  "  Only  I  need  a  company  of  soldiers 
hard-by  to  work  it  in  comfort,"  he  said,  for  it 
was  off  the  beaten  trails. 

"  Patience!  "  the  Governor  would  say  to  him. 
"We  are  all  young." 

Horswell  was  plodding  along,  enduring  Parko- 

370 


ELLEN  WEITES  TO  THE  PERSONALITY    371 

witz's  patronage.  At  the  mention  of  Parkowitz's 
name  he  would  change  the  subject.  He  could  not 
speak  loyally  of  his  superior  and  would  not  speak 
disloyally. 

The  silent  Major  was  in  much  the  same  position 
as  Horswell.  He  would  not  allow  a  word  to  be 
said  against  the  General  in  his  presence.  When 
pressed,  he  admitted  that  the  military  situa 
tion  was  no  better  and  feared  it  might  grow 
worse. 

"  I'm  confident  that  more  rifles  are  getting  in," 
he  said,  "  and  a  more  cunning  mind  than  Campo's 
is  behind  the  insurrecto  movements." 

No  week  passed  without  some  record  of  casual 
ties.  Prairie  Fire's  insistent  call  for  more 
troops  only  strengthened  the  conviction  of  the 
military  extremists  in  Washington  that  this 
young  civil  governor  was  embarrassing  the  com 
mander  of  the  forces.  In  the  garrison  towns, 
where  the  schools  were  to  be  located,  a  friendlier 
feeling  had  developed,  but  it  could  not  spread, 
perhaps  not  even  last,  while  the  underground 
route  was  continually  sending  out  its  insidious 
promptings. 

"  Yes,  the  Americans  are  very  sincere  in  their 
moral  ideas,  very.  They  teach  the  abc's  and  love 
of  religion  and  retain  in  his  office  a  bishop  who 
has  a  harem!  " 

This  sneer  met  Don  Francisco's  school  propa 
ganda  at  every  turn.  Father  Tim  cried  out 
against  it  in  shame.  The  Bishop,  sitting  under 
bis  punka  in  white  canonicals,  was  a  &wm$  oJ4 


372  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

Pasha,  mindless  of  any  criticism,  while  Cortina 
plotted  and  Prairie  Fire  blundered. 

Ellen  with  her  intuitive  gift  for  understanding 
and  hearing  all  sides,  saw  the  Governor  held  at 
bay  by  incompetence  over  which  he  had  no  con 
trol.  She  saw  him  going  and  coming  to  the  prov 
inces,  with  sleepless  nights  on  the  trail,  expending 
his  store  of  energy  in  that  sapping  climate  with 
out  stint  while,  to  use  her  own  words,  she  was 
filling  up  with  wrath.  She  knew  that  she  was 
going  to  lose  her  temper  with  Big  if  things  did 
not  change.  One  evening  when  she.  and  the 
Statons  had  been  to  the  Palace  to  dinner,  and 
she  and  Big  were  pacing  up  and  down  together 
on  the  veranda,  the  explosion  came  just  after  he 
had  told  her  what  he  thought  was  good  news. 

"  I  believe  we  will  get  the  power  to  organize 
under  my  authority  a  couple  of  companies  of  na 
tive  constabulary,"  he  said.  "  This  will  show 
the  people  that  they  are  to  have  a  share  in  their 
own  police  work.  Who  would  you  say,  Charming 
Lady  and  expert  in  the  workings  of  the  native 
mind,  would  make  the  best  commander?  " 

11  Sergeant  Smith,"  she  answered,  promptly. 
"  He  understands  the  Tongals.  They  have  great 
respect  for  him." 

' i  So  everybody  says, ' '  he  responded.  * l  I  think 
that  I  know  one  good  soldier  who  will  have  a  rise 
in  the  world." 

Ellen  was  delighted  that  he  should,  but  the  idea 
of  the  constabulary  was  the  match  to  the  fuel 
that  had  been  accumulating  in  her  mind. 


ELLEN  WRITES  TO  THE  PERSONALITY    373 

"  What  is  the  good  of  this  or  the  abc's  as  long 
as  that  horrible  old  Bishop  stays?  Why  don't  you 
tell  him  to  go!  " 

"  I  haven't  any  right,  Two  Braids.  But  I  have 
made  every  possible  hint;  and  Father  Tim,  in  his 
blandest  way,  has  suggested  to  him  that  he  has 
earned  a  vacation  in  Spain;  but  all  to  no 
purpose." 

"  Don't  you  know  that  this  hateful  Cortina  is 
against  us!  "  she  went  on,  bound  to  thrash  the 
matter  out. 

"  I  assume  that  he  is.  But  Cortina  speaks  in 
a  most  friendly  way." 

"  Yes,  if  he  does  that  it  is  enough  for  you,  you 
big  simple!  You  think  everybody  is  honest  be 
cause  you  are!  I'd  have  Cortina  up  and  say, 
i  Four  hours  to  pack!  You're  off  this  afternoon, 
little  scorpion!  '  " 

"  Exile!  Oh,  no,  no!  That  would  never  do! 
It  is  quite  out  of  keeping  with  my  programme. 
And  you  must  remember  that  the  opposition  at 
home  would  make  a  hero  of  him." 

' '  Hero !    The  people  at  home  must  be  mad !  ' ' 

"  You  see,  if  I  took  any  action  against  Cortina 
without  evidence,  why,  I  would  stultify  the  very 
sense  of  the  law  I  am  trying  to  impress  on  this 
people." 

"  Evidence !  Fiddlesticks !  Sometimes  I'd  like 
to  box  your  ears!  "  she  said,  getting  angrier, 
while  he  looked  as  if  he  wouldn  't  mind  having  his 
ears  boxed  by  her.  '  *  You  are  the  big,  simple  one, 
as  the  natives  say!  Don't  you  know  that  boy 


374  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

Enrico  tells  all  the  General's  plans?  That  pudgy, 
profane  old  thing !  He  ought  to  be  called  '  Fire 
Alarm  '  instead  of  '  Prairie  Fire  ' !  ' : 

The  Governor  could  not  resist  the  truth  of  the 
designation  or  its  humor  and  laughed  contem 
platively. 

"  Yes,  it  doesn't  seem  to  me  that  Enrico  ought 
to  be  made  a  military  confidant.  I  have  written 
and  spoken  to  the  General  about  it,  and  he  was  so 
angry  that  it  only  made  him  stubborn  and  matters 
worse.  He  said  that  I  better  study  medicine  and 
get  a  brigadiership.  You  see,  he  had  me  rather  at 
fault.  It  wasn't  in  my  department." 

"  Department!  Department!  Bosh!  Eed 
tape!  Superannuated  fossilism!  Don't  you 
know  that  things  are  growing  worse  and  worse, 
while  you  sit  here  and  play  the  noble  idealist! 
More  rifles !  More  insurgents !  And  your  career, 
Big!  Think  if  you  should  be  beaten — if  there 
were  defeats  and  the  army  stepped  in  with  an 
other  military  governor — and  that  is  what  old 
Prairie  Fire  wants !  ' 

The  Big  Fellow  grew  sober.  It  was  not  that  he 
was  thinking  of  his  career:  He  was  thinking  of 
the  success  of  his  work. 

"  Why  don't  you  tell  the  President  and  every 
body?  Oh,  if  Willy  Sweetser  were  only  here  and 
could  write  that  old  thing  up  as  he  is!  ' 

Yes,  if  Willy  were  there !  How  long  could  Gen 
eral  Prairie  Fire,  in  his  adipose  incompetency, 
last  under  public  scrutiny?  But  this  was  ten 
thousand  miles  from  home. 


ELLEN  WRITES  TO  THE  PERSONALITY    375 

"  I  have  come  pretty  near  losing  my  temper 
with  the  General  two  or  three  times, "  mused  the 
Big  Fellow. 

"  Oh,  do  lose  it!  "  she  pleaded.  "  Thunder  at 
him !  Thrash  him !  Oh,  I'd  love  to  see  you  on  the 
rampage  and  knock  them  all  down — the  whole 
lot!  "  being  quite  irresponsible  for  what  she  was 
saying. 

"  You  see,  Two  Braids,  there  was  a  good  deal 
of  opposition  in  the  Department  to  any  civil  gov 
ernor  and  I  came  on  trial,  as  it  were." 

"  Yes,  you  are  between  the  kill-alls,"  she  an 
swered,  "  and  the  allies  of  Cortina  in  our  own 
country. ' ' 

"  Time!  Time!  Evidence  collects,"  he  said, 
thoughtfully.  "  My  reports  are  going  in  regu 
larly." 

"  Reports  by  mail  ten  thousand  miles  away 
— good  Heavens!  You're  worse  than  the  god 
Buddha  sitting  a  thousand  years  by  the  river 
bank  with  folded  hands !  ' ' 

' '  Some  by  cable, ' '  he  added,  by  way  of  extenu 
ation,  on  the  defensive  before  increased  fire. 
"  The  cable  is  always  open." 

"  Cable!  Who'll  read  it?  But  what's  the  use! 
I'm  done!  You're  a  great,  simple  fool,  Big! 
A  fool!  " 

Having  done  her  little  best,  having  spoken  her 
mind  to  the  full,  without  waiting  for  an  answer 
she  sped  off  the  veranda. 

"  Not  a  fool!  "  he  called  after  her,  in  boyish 
injury. 


376  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

He  felt  sheepish  and  really  a  good  deal  like 
what  she  had  called  him,  he  had  to  admit.  With 
more  than  admiration  in  his  eye  he  followed  her 
rapid  progress  across  the  square  to  the  Statons', 
and  he  was  overcome  with  a  sense  of  isolation  and 
almost  of  discouragement.  He  thought  that  he 
knew  a  few  people  who  really  deserved  knocking 
down. 

She  kept  on  calling  him  a  fool  under  her  breath 
until  she  began  to  think  of  some  way  to  help  him. 
What  could  she,  one  of  the  many  teachers  in  one 
of  the  Islands,  do  to  make  the  truth  known  in  that 
far-away  Washington,  where  the  truth,  traveling 
by  many  typewritten  processes,  is  sometimes  lost 
in  the  abundance  of  words  that  no  one  has  time 
to  read? 

Yes,  there  was  a  way.  Of  late  a  new  per 
sonality  had  risen  into  high  official  being.  Ex- 
ertive  and  manifest,  dominant  of  will,  insistent 
of  questioning,  irrepressible  of  spontaneity  of 
purpose,  the  tremors  of  its  vitality,  making  the 
typewriters  all  along  the  line  jump,  had  spread 
as  far  as  Bar.  Someone  was  always  wanting  to 
know  why.  Someone  was  not  afraid  to  think  for 
himself.  Someone  was  not  afraid  to  act.  At 
the  Major's,  Ellen  went  immediately  to  her  room 
and  to  her  writing-table.  With  the  spur  of  her 
idea,  without  thought  of  form,  she  indicted  the 
most  unofficial  letter  that  ever  went  out  of 
Bar  from  government  employee  to  government 
superior. 


ELLEN  WRITES  TO  THE  PERSONALITY    377 

"  If  this  is  not  the  right  way  to  begin  a  letter 
to  you, ' '  she  wrote  to  the  Personality, i  i  then  I  am 
beginning  the  best  way  I  know  how.  It  is  from 
one  who  is  so  full  of  things  you  ought  to  know 
that  she  can't  keep  quiet.  I  am  the  first  teacher 
in  the  Island,  and  many  others  are  coming  later. 
My  school  is  Exhibit  A,  the  pioneer,  and  I'm 
proud  of  it. 

"  The  little  ones  are  getting  on  finely.  If  you 
could  only  see  them  at  recitation,  and  when  they 
all  sing  school  songs  together  like  so  many  little 
brown  manikins,  showing  the  white  of  their 
teeth  and  the  whites  of  their  eyes,  I  know  you'd 
enjoy  it."  (You  may  be  sure,  Ellen,  the  Per 
sonality  would.)  "  I  have  some  of  the  best  ones 
already  so  they  can  spell  '  mango  '  and  even  that 
whopper  '  banana,'  although  some  of  the  back 
ward  ones  cannot  do  '  palm  '  yet — but  what  is  the 
use? 

66  I  know  I  am  prejudiced.  I  can't  help  it. 
Anybody  would  be.  I  am  an  informer,  I  know, 
but  I'll  face  General  Prairie  Fire  before  any 
body  and  prove  it  all,  too — yes,  every  bit  of  it! 
Once  he  chased  some  Indians  out  West.  Some 
honest  people  of  influence  who  knew  him  then 
think  he  is  still  the  same  man.  He  puffs  with  every 
step  from  the  heat.  All  his  plans  he  tells  to  every 
body,  and  when  they  go  wrong  he  takes  it  out 
of  the  soldiers  and  the  natives.  He  doesn't  know 
this  isn't  Arizona — it's  jungle. 

66  Now,  Major  Staton  did  not  tell  me  this — not 


378  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

a  word  of  it !  I  saw  it  for  myself.  He  is  the  Chief 
of  Staff  and  he  stays  on  and  is  sworn  at  for  duty's 
sake,  all  in  silence.  But  he  sits  up  nights  with 
his  maps  and  books.  If  there  is  a  change  in  a 
gun  mechanism  or  any  improvement  of  any  kind 
he  knows  it.  This  has  nothing  to  do  with  fight 
ing  Tongals,  he  says,  but  it's  his  profession.  He 
works  and  rides  and  walks.  He  is  hard-muscled 
and  clear-headed.  Isn't  that  the  way  a  soldier 
ought  to  be?  He  shouldn't  be  pudgy  and  growl 
ing  and  swearing,  should  he? 

"  Why  send  teachers  if  you  are  going  to  keep 
old  Prairie  Fire?  All  the  little  ones  need,  then, 
is  to  know  first  aid  to  the  wounded,  and  all  our 
soldiers  need  is  legs.  Why  send  a  Governor  to 
teach  the  people  that  the  Americans  are  the  peo 
ple's  friends;  to  establish  schools  and  town  gov 
ernments  and  peace  and  order,  when  everything 
that  he  does  old  Prairie  Fire  spoils?  He  is 
a  big  man,  the  Governor.  Oh,  you  don't  know 
what  a  big  man  he  is!  He  is  the  law  and  the  light. 
But  he  is  so  high-minded,  so  considerate,  so 
broad,  that  he  cannot  realize  all  the  meanness 
this  island  breeds.  He  is  trying  to  work  it  out 
without  troubling  Washington — when  it  can't  be 
worked  out!  There  will  be  something  terrible  in 
this  island  if  General  Prairie  Fire  stays.  The 
Governor  says  the  military  is  not  in  his  depart 
ment.  But  it  is  in  yours.  I  can  tell  you  and  I 
do — the  truth — the  whole  truth. 

"  Most  respectfully  yours, 

"  ELLEN  MOORE." 


ELLEN  WRITES  TO  THE  PERSONALITY    379 

She  mailed  the  letter  at  once.  When  her  head 
was  on  the  pillow  between  the  two  braids  a  little 
reaction  came. 

"  My  goodness !  I  don't  really  remember  what 
I  said!  It  must  have  been  fearfully  impertinent 
and  dreadfully  worded!  "  she  thought.  "  But  I 
don't  care!  I  was  mad  clear  through.  It  is  the 
truth.  I  wish  I  could  cable — I  wish  I  could  just 
talk  to  him  for  a  few  minutes !  ' ' 


XXXIV 

WHY   THE   BISHOP   WENT 

THE  first  party  of  teachers  for  Bar  was  on 
its  way.  Ellen  felt  her  responsibility  as  a 
pioneer  in  the  abc's  who  was  to  come  up 
for  examination  before  a  superintendent  from 
home  and  other  censorious  professional  eyes. 
Don  Francisco,  paternal,  busy,  gravely  enthu 
siastic,  who  had  traveled  far  in  sun  and  rain 
spreading  the  new  propaganda  in  face  of  the 
difficulties  that  we  already  know,  would  make  the 
most  of  a  great  event. 

"  With  your  permission,  Excellency,"  he  said, 
"  we  will  have  a  fiesta  in  the  plaza.  There  will 
be  an  address  by  you,  recitations  and  singing  by 
the  pupils  of  Exhibit  A,  a  prayer  by  Father  Ma- 
loney  and  William  Winterburn  Worth,  and  food 
and  dancing  and  gayety  generally.  Our  people 
like  the  fiestas.  They  will  come  from  afar  for 
the  day,  though  they  plan  to  fight  us  at  night. 
But  the  fiesta  is  the  good  politics.  Some  will  be 
convinced,  and  everyone  convinced  is  what  you 
call  a  nucleus;  is  it  not?  ' 

The  Governor  concurred,  while  General 
Prairie  Fire  said  if  there  was  to  be  any 
damned-fool  business  of  this  kind  he  would  have 

380 


WHY  THE  BISHOP  WENT  381 

to  bring  in  troops  from  the  outlying  districts  to 
prevent  a  massacre,  whose  horrors  he  pictured 
with  String  No.  1.  The  army  was  being  made 
a  side  show,  he  told  Enrico,  with  String  No.  3, 
and  that  military  expert  agreed  with  him. 

A  thing  of  more  import  was  that  Father  Tim 
might  not  make  the  prayer,  which  W.  W.  took 
even  more  to  heart  than  the  chaplain  himself. 
The  Bishop  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  plan  had 
put  on  his  spotless  canonicals  and  proceeded  to 
the  Palace,  where  he  signified  his  approval  of  the 
function  and  that  he  would  grace  the  occasion 
with  his  presence,  as  kings  say,  and  this  with  his 
heavy  face  set  and  his  inverted  eyes  looking  at 
the  corner  of  the  desk. 

How  he  came  by  those  eyes  is  a  story  of  com 
mon  report,  whose  authenticity  has  not  yet  been 
the  subject  of  antiquarian  inquiry  in  Spain.  It 
was  said  that  his  grandfather,  a  famous  bull 
fighter,  had  been  caught  by  the  tip  of  a  bull's 
horn  between  the  eyes,  making  a  wound  that  be 
came  a  birthmark  in  future  generations.  Of  the 
partial  truth  of  this,  so  far  as  one  generation  was 
concerned,  there  was  proof  enough  to  be  seen  in 
the  streets  of  Takar,  where  certain  natives,  of 
ages  from  five  to  twenty-five,  with  inverted  eyes, 
had  a  name  among  the  people  that  was  unpleasant 
enough  in  suggestion  without  repetition  here. 

"  How   many   do   you    suppose    there    are?  ' 
Father   Tim  once  asked   Sergeant   Smith,  with 
whom  he  was  great  friends. 

"  Don't  get  me  a-guessing, ' '  said  he.    "  When 


382  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

the  census  sharps  come  out  from  Washington  they 
ought  to  put  them  in  a  special  class." 

Don  Francisco,  when  he  heard  of  the  Bishop's 
intention,  feared  a  demonstration.  He  wished 
that  he  had  not  undertaken  a  fiesta,  after  all.  For 
the  first  time  the  Governor  saw  him  in  a  passion 
ate  temper. 

"  Should  a  bishop  have  so  many  children?  ' 
the  old  Presidente  asked.  "  Not  of  our  church, 
no !  What  does  it  say  to  all  the  people  when  the 
Father  Maloney  he  is  not  to  welcome  the  school 
children  and  the  Bishop  is  ?  Order  the  polygamist 
to  stay  away,  Excellency." 

But  the  Bishop  of  the  diocese  could  not  be 
refused  a  place  on  the  speakers'  platform.  He 
was  the  head  of  an  organization. 

' '  I  begin  to  think  the  law  is  a  fool !  ' '  Don  Fran 
cisco  declared.  "  The  law  is  not  the  good  politics. 
I  fear  there  will  be  trouble.  Our  abc's  will  be 
proved  the  lie."  He  departed  still  loyal,  but  in  a 
new  mood. 

As  for  Father  Tim,  he  had  been  saying  in  re 
gret  and  chagrin  for  months,  "  If  Mother  Rome 
only  knew  it!  "  Letters  he  had  written  through 
such  channels  as  he  could,  and  gradually  they 
were  finding  their  way  to  higher  places.  Only  a 
parish  priest  before  he  became  chaplain,  he  had 
the  temerity  to  go  to  the  Bishop  and  try  to  ex 
plain;  but  the  Bishop  seemed  to  think  that  that 
prayer  was  his  golden  opportunity  for  official 
vindication. 

Father  Tim  was  pretty  blue  until  he  met  Ser- 


WHY  THE  BISHOP  WENT  383 

geant  Smith,  of  Company  B,  in  the  street,  when, 
suddenly,  his  eyes  began  to  twinkle. 

"  Ye  divil,  ye!  "  said  he,  lapsing  back  into  the 
brogue — may  he  never  lose  it! 

He  whispered  to  Smith  and  Smith  whispered 
to  him,  this  Brutus  and  Cassius  of  a  conspiracy 
in  which  Brutus  needed  little  encouragement,  al 
though  in  saying  so  one  makes  a  guess;  for  offi 
cialdom  was  not  in  favor  of  publishing  the  details 
of  an  affair  which  a  layman  thinks  too  good  to 
remain  a  secret  of  tropical  administration. 

"  If  there 's  anybody  asks  any  questions  refer 
him  to  me,  Father,"  said  that  lean  soldier,  who 
seemed  to  regard  it  as  a  privilege  to  be  the  goat 
from  the  energetic  and  discreet  manner  in  which 
he  set  to  his  task.  While  the  stands  were  being 
built  in  the  plaza  he  went  out  into  the  jungle  twice 
a  day,  where  he  was  "  doing  a  little  abc  militia 
work,"  as  he  called  it  gleefully,  on  his  own  ac 
count. 

"  How  many  have  you  altogether?  "  asked 
Father  Tim. 

11  Twenty  strong  cases,"  said  he.  "  I  don't 
know  as  they're  all  the  straight  goods,  but  they 
say  so  and  they've  got  the  look,  and  any  that 
ain't  will  make  up  for  a  number  I'm  sure  to  have 
missed." 

61  It's  a  shameful  thing  to  do,  but  I'm  human, 
Tommy  Smith,  I'm  human,  and  I've  had  to  carry 
this  thing  with  the  natives  long  enough,"  the 
chaplain  explained,  in  justification.  "  And  how 
do  they  drill?  "  he  asked. 


384  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  Bully!  They're  the  real  original  gugu  bat 
talion,  all  right.  Yes,  sir,  they're  putting  their 
hearts  into  their  work." 

11  Sure,  they  ought  to.  It's  a  family  matter." 
And  the  Father  was  ashamed  of  himself  for  this 
remark,  too.  At  times  he  wondered  if  he  were 
not  unpriestly.  Was  not  this  tropical  life  de 
moralizing  him? 

Of  all  that  world  of  Takar,  he  and  the  Ser 
geant  had  the  most  anticipatory  interest  in  the 
fiesta.  At  dawn  of  the  great  morning  the  people, 
in  their  best  starched  shirts  and  with  their  hair 
oiled,  began  to  stream  in  from  the  trails.  Some 
had  walked  half  the  night.  After  the  months 
of  fighting  and  of  suffering  they  were  to  have  a 
day  of  pleasure.  They  were  to  see  the  fair-haired 
giant  Governor,  who  was  beaming  happy  "  How 
do  you  do's  "  as  he  shook  hands  and  tried  in  the 
second  that  he  looked  into  each  face  to  win  the 
trust  and  confidence  of  its  owner.  He  was  like 
some  genial,  generous  young  father  of  a  mighty 
family. 

Two  native  bands  and  a  large  crowd  were  at 
the  landing-place  at  the  appointed  hour.  Espe 
cially  interested  was  the  group  of  up-country 
Presidentes,  each  of  whom  was  to  be  sponsor  for 
one  of  the  newcomers  in  a  garrison  town.  They 
betrayed  their  surprise  at  sight  of  the  teachers, 
some  of  whom  were  middle-aged,  while  some  who 
were  young  were  not  good-looking,  some  wore  spec 
tacles  and  some  were  mere  commonplace  males. 

"  We    thought    everyone    was    just    like    the 


WHY  THE  BISHOP  WENT  385 

Charming  Lady/'  insisted  those  disappointed 
Presidentes. 

But  that  rare  old  politician,  Don  Francisco,  was 
equal  to  the  occasion.  He  promoted  Ellen  at 
once. 

"  The  Charming  Lady  is  one  of  the  divinities 
of  the  abc's,"  said  he.  "  There  are  only  a  few, 
and  we  are  lucky  to  have  one  on  our  island.  And 
all  the  others  have  her  spirit  and  wisdom. ' ' 

Then,  with  the  bands  playing,  they  marched 
to  the  Palace.  The  chattering  crowds  in  the  plaza 
were  like  a  numberless  opera  stage  chorus  play 
ing  the  revels  of  the  country  folk.  Ellen's  school 
was  in  an  honored  position  among  the  reserved 
places  inside  the  Palace  green.  She  was  a  little 
embarrassed  by  the  distinction,  but  determined  to 
do  her  duty  when  she  saw  it,  according  to  the 
teachings  of  her  youth  from  Aunt  Julia.  Another 
vacant  space  nearby  was  not  occupied  until  the 
Governor  and  the  Bishop  and  General  Prairie 
Fire,  looking  fierce,  and  officialdom  generally 
were  taking  their  seats. 

At  this  dramatic  moment  came  that  lean, 
bronzed  Sergeant  Smith,  of  Company  B,  with  his 
infantryman's  stride  and  veteran  swing  of  the 
shoulders,  solemn  as  a  King's  Grenadier,  at  the 
head  of  his  marching  battalion,  all  in  step  and 
carrying  flags.  He  tried  his  best  to  catch  the 
chaplain's  eye  and  failed.  Father  Tim  was  study 
ing  the  architecture  of  the  cathedral  spire  in 
tently  and  the  Governor's  smile  was  beatific,  but 
scarcely  an  offset  for  the  angry  glances  of  the 


386  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

crowd  of  brown  faces  in  the  field  of  white  clothes 
toward  the  Bishop.  Major  Staton,  apprehensive 
of  trouble,  was  watching  the  troops,  who  had  their 
instructions. 

If  Sergeant  Smith  were  to  be  the  goat  he  pro 
posed,  in  all  soldierly  spirit,  to  bear  a  full  pack 
to  the  woods.  No  doubt  he  did  carry  the  matter 
too  far,  clear  beyond  the  intentions  of  Father 
Tim,  and  in  defense  he  was  to  answer  that  he 
"  delivered  the  goods." 

It  was  his  own  idea  having  the  flags  and  putting 
his  recruits  in  red  shirts.  In  fact,  he  owned  up 
to  everything,  including  the  unpardonable  dog 
gerel.  When  the  Bishop  rose  to  make  his  prayer, 
the  battalion  also  rose.  Thus  they  could  not  fail 
to  attract  his  attention.  Who  knows  but  Sergeant 
Smith  may  have  had  in  him  the  making  of  a  stage 
manager!  The  Bishop  looked  at  that  battalion 
and  started  back  a  step,  staring  with  mouth  open, 
and  the  battalion  began  to  sing  something  about 
the  red,  white,  and  blue,  school  fashion,  and  ' i  Our 
filial  love  for  you,"  putting  their  heart  into  their 
work.  For  a  minute  the  Bishop's  inverted  eyes 
gazed  into  twenty  pairs  of  a  kindred  character, 
then  he  picked  up  his  skirts  and  fled  up  the 
Palace  steps  and  out  the  back  way. 

Father  Maloney  rose  and,  when  he  stepped  for 
ward,  a  cheer  came  from  the  crowd,  which  after 
ward  reverently  crossed  themselves.  No  man 
could  ask  a  higher  testimonial  for  his  work  than 
this,  as  W.  W.  said.  What  Sergeant  Smith  could 
not  understand  was  how  the  chaplain  could  keep 


WHY  THE  BISHOP  WENT  387 

his  face  straight  for  that  prayer.  In  pleasant 
banter  Father  Tim  said  by  closing  his  eyes  and 
clasping  his  hands  tight ;  and  then  he  added,  very 
seriously:  "  It  was  easy  after  that  cheer  and 
when  I  realized  what  it  meant."  As  for  the 
Bishop,  he  took  the  first  steamer  for  Spain. 


XXXV 

NEWS   FROM   TOLL 

THE  fiesta  was  a  success,  and  its  most 
successful  feature  was  the  flag  drill  and 
singing  of  the  Charming  Lady's  school, 
commonplace  enough  for  us  at  home,  but  to  Bar 
as  important  as  a  Patti's  first  appearance  to 
America.  All  who  were  present  had  a  happy 
time,  including  Dr.  Cortina.  The  Governor  made 
more  than  one  new  friend,  or  nucleus,  as  Don 
Francisco  was  fond  of  calling  any  convert. 

But  even  he,  with  his  knowledge  of  the  native 
mind,  was  a  little  disappointed  with  the  result  of 
the  Bishop's  departure.  That  underground  route 
of  insurrection  was  ready  with  its  prompt  ex 
planation.  The  Bishop  had  not  been  sent  away: 
He  had  gone  only  as  the  result  of  a  soldier's  joke 
after  the  Governor  had  invited  him  to  make  the 
prayer.  So  it  was  plain  as  a  ripening  mango  on 
a  tree  that  the  government  sympathized  with  his 
private  morals. 

All  other  events  presently  lose  significance, 
however,  in  General  Prairie  Fire's  rage  over 
the  latest  defiance  of  his  military  rights.  Two 
companies  of  native  constabulary  were  being  or 
ganized  under  the  island  government,  which 

388 


NEWS  FROM  TOLL  389 

meant  the  Governor.  Now  the  end  was  clear! 
It  was  massacre;  yes,  by  all  the  strings  in  a  vol 
ley,  massacre!  Not  content  with  inciting  insur 
rection  by  abc's  and  glad-hand  politics,  we  were 
to  train  up  soldiers  to  murder  us  in  our  beds ! 

"  You  don't  approve  of  this,  Enrico?  "  said 
the  General  to  the  faithful  one.  "  Do  you  think 
these  niggers  won't  turn  the  rifles — army  rifles, 
by  G — ! — against  us?  " 

"  No,  General,"  was  the  answer  by  the  book. 
' i  It  makes  me  so  sad.  They  will  all  say  they  are 
so  loyal  and  some  day  they  will  rise  against  us 
in  the  dark,  yes." 

'  '  There  you  have  it !  There  you  have  it !  And 
you  know  the  native  mind,  too,  Enrico!  " 

"  It  is  not  for  me  to  say,"  returned  Enrico, 
ever  so  modestly,  "  but  I  do  wish  His  Excellency 
were  not  so  simple." 

"  Simple!  He's  a  cheap  politician.  We've  got 
lots  of  'em  in  the  States." 

At  this  point  the  General  had  an  idea.  He  sent 
for  Major  Staton,  whom  he  was  always  suspecting 
of  personal  disloyalty.  When  the  Chief  of  Staff 
came  an  eagle  eye  was  fixed  on  him. 

' '  Major,  did  you  have  anything  to  do  with  this 
constabulary  business?  "  he  stormed  (with  which 
of  the  strings  is  not  worth  mentioning,  as  he  was 
using  Nos.  1,  2,  and  3  without  discrimination  in 
the  heat  of  conflict  this  morning). 

"  No,  General." 

"  Well,  if  you  did  I'd  have  you  up  before  a 
court!  And  let  me  tell  you  I  see  things.  You 


390  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

are  spending  too  much  time  on  the  Governor's 
porch.  It's  bad  for  discipline  and  I  want  it 
stopped!  You  keep  away  from  the  Governor's!  " 

The  Major  was  ready  to  bear  a  good  deal  be 
cause  he  thought  it  was  his  duty  to  remain  in 
Bar.  Now  he  begged  to  inform  the  General,  not 
for  the  first  time,  that  his  transfer  back  to  his 
regiment  was  the  General's  privilege.  This  sug 
gestion  cooled  Prairie  Fire.  His  dependence  on 
the  Major  was  one  of  the  things  the  General  did 
realize. 

"  B-r-r,  Major,  I'm  just  giving  you  a  friendly 
hint  not  to  be  indiscreet,"  the  General  said,  with 
brusque  good-humor  and  No.  5  (the  amiable 
string).  "  Doesn't  do  for  a  soldier  to  get  mixed 
up  with  these  politicians.  If  I  want  you  to  go, 
I'll  let  you  know  fast  enough." 

"  It  seems  to  me,  holding  the  views  you  do, 
General,  you  might  protest  personally  to  the  Gov 
ernor,"  remarked  Staton.  "  He  will  have  to 
listen." 

"  You're  right,  Major,  there,  though  it's  no 
use.  It's  humiliating  myself,  but  it's  duty.  I'll 
do  it  to  clear  my  conscience!  I'll  do  it  just  as  if 
he  were  a  reasonable,  thinking  man  whom  you 
could  convince." 

The  General  buttoned  his  blouse,  which  bore 
streaks  from  his  morning  meal,  and  straighten 
ing  his  sagging  shoulders,  set  out.  He  told  him 
self  that  he  would  make  a  firm,  dignified  repre 
sentation  to  the  Governor  and  withdraw.  Al 
though  the  day  was  profanely  hot,  as  all  days 


NEWS  FROM  TOLL  391 

in  Bar  were  to  him,  he  managed  to  keep  calm 
during  his  walk  to  the  Palace,  where  he  was  ad 
mitted  to  the  Governor's  office  before  he  had 
finished  wiping  his  brow. 

"  IVe  come  to  present  my  view  in  this  con 
stabulary  matter/7  he  began. 

"  Yes,  General,  I  should  like  nothing  better. 
I  want  both  sides, "  said  the  Big  Fellow,  with  his 
ineffaceable  smile  of  welcome  that  irritated  the 
General. 

"  Sides!  "  Prairie  Fire  stormed,  his  resolution 
forgotten  as  he  struck  the  desk.  6 1  Sides !  There 
is  only  one  side  to  this  question!  It's  anarchy, 
treason,  assassination!  Of  all  the  outrages 
ever " 

The  Governor  heard  him  through,  begged  to 
disagree  with  him,  and  then  said  that  the  con 
stabulary  must  be.  He  hoped  for  cooperation 
from  the  commander  of  the  forces — which  was 
forthcoming  in  a  choking,  apoplectic  "  B-r-r!  >: 
as  the  doors  swung  to. 

; '  I  reasoned  with  him !  I  humiliated  myself !  ' : 
the  General  told  Mrs.  Strong.  ' '  I  did  my  duty. ' ' 

At  least,  he  could  address  the  War  Department. 
That  poor  little  right  was  left  out  of  the  wreck 
of  the  American  army  to  one  who  had  worn  him 
self  out  in  the  service  of  his  country.  But  he  had 
to  ask  his ,  Chief  of  Staff  to  compose  his  violent 
representation,  which  the  Major,  all  by  the  law 
of  the  army,  had  to  do  in  variance  with  his  opin 
ion.  There  was  another  thing  that  Staton  wished 
to  mention  again  after  the  letter  was  signed. 


392  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  General,  I  think  it  is  a  mistake  to  send  Com 
panies  D  and  E  to  Tabor.  I  am  sure  they  will 
find  no  enemy  there.  It  is  a  decoy.  We  would 
better  keep  at  least  E  at  Toll." 

The  attentive  Enrico  looked  up  out  of  the  cor 
ner  of  his  eye  from  the  translation  he  was  so  dili 
gently  making. 

"  Toll?  That  place  where  the  Governor's  try 
ing  out  his  love-me,  love-you  scheme?  Why,  no! 
They  don't  need  troops  at  Toll!"  declared 
Prairie  Fire. 

Enrico  smiled  over  his  translation. 

"  Still,  I  think  they  do,"  urged  the  Major,  wh(v 
was  convinced  that  if  he  might  organize  a  proper 
intelligence  bureau  he  would  soon  take  care  of 
Enrico  and  his  kind. 

"  Enrico  says  there  are  three  hundred  insur- 
rectoes  intrenched  at  Tabor,  with  Campo  himself 
in  command — yes,  Campo!  We'll  bag  every  man 
jack  of  'em — and  look  here!  Are  you  command 
ing  or  am  I?  " 

Oh!  the  General's  tropical  liver  was  very  bad, 
and  he  had  just  seen  from  the  window  the  new 
constabulary  with  Sergeant  Smith,  detailed  by 
higher  orders  from  one  of  his  own  companies  to 
command,  marching  across  the  plaza. 

Dr.  Cortina  saw  them,  too,  with  a  glitter  in  his 
eye.  That  underground  route  had  explained  that 
the  constabulary  was  only  the  cloak  for  the  for 
mation  of  a  band  of  city  cutthroats  who  would 
murder  their  own  countrymen  in  their  beds.  Now 
The  Thinker  wanted  a  diversion  for  the  landing 


NEWS  FROM  TOLL  393 

of  his  two  thousand  rifles.  He  was  planning  an 
action  to  this  end  and  to  kill  the  confidence  in  the 
Governor  which  had  been  growing  in  some 
quarters. 

The  first  word  of  what  was  in  store  came  from 
Bakan.  The  young  Lieutenant  of  that  little  gar 
rison  of  twenty  may  have  been  careless  to  have 
allowed  so  many  of  his  men  to  be  playing  ball 
when  their  rifles  were  in  the  barracks.  If  so, 
he  paid  the  price  when  the  very  lot  which  Com 
panies  D  and  E  had  found  missing  forty  miles 
away,  approaching  stealthily,  sprang  out  of  the 
jungle  three  hundred  strong.  With  clubs,  with 
sticks  and  stones  the  twenty  fought,  falling  to 
the  last  man  face  to  face  with  guerrilla  trickery 
and  taking  a  toll  of  lives  double  their  own 
number. 

Whenever  there  was  fighting  of  importance 
General  Prairie  Fire  was  bound  to  be  in  it, 
shouting  and  swearing  at  his  soldiers.  For  he 
was  a  brave  man,  whose  courage  rather  than  fit 
ness  to  command  more  than  a  small  charging 
party  had  won  his  star.  He  started  with  Major 
Staton  for  the  interior  at  once  by  the  river,  on 
the  Paktowan. 

That  evening  the  Governor  had  Mrs.  Staton 
and  Ellen  to  dinner.  He  was  silent  and  preoccu 
pied.  Two  or  three  times  he  put  his  hand  to  his 
head  and  seemed  to  rouse  himself  with  an  effort. 
They  asked  if  he  were  ill,  fearing  the  fever.  He 
said  "  nothing  but  headache,"  which  was  the 
fever  sign,  although  they  were  persuaded  that 


394  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

the  real  cause  was  heart-sickness  over  the  news 
from  Bakan. 

It  was  still  light  when,  with  their  coffee,  they 
were  seated  on  the  veranda,  and  they  would  have 
said  that  the  figure  which  turned  the  cathedral 
corner  and  came  toward  the  Palace  must  be  Don 
Francisco,  but  for  the  energetic  stride.  Don 
Francisco  it  was.  His  agitation  transcended  his 
born  politeness  as  he  came  up  the  steps.  He 
barely  bowed  to  the  Charming  Lady  and  Mrs. 
Staton  and  his  glazed  eyes  seemed  to  see  only  the 
Big  Fellow. 

"  It  is  done!  I  am  paid  for  my  believing!  I 
am  paid  for  my  folly!  "  he  announced,  in  sinister 
abruptness.  ' '  They  have  burned  Toll — my  Toll ! 
Our  teacher  there  is  dead!  The  insurrectoes  are 
shooting  my  people  to  punish  me !  Your  soldiers 
are  shooting  them  and  they  are  dying  in  the 
embers  of  their  homes!  " 

"They  have  burned  Toll!  Toll!  "  said  the 
Governor,  blankly.  "  Your  Toll!  My  Toll!  " 

He  put  his  hands  on  the  old  man's  shoulders  in 
his  sympathy  at  the  first  comprehension  of  the 
import  of  this  disaster. 

The  old  Presidente  drew  away,  with  a  toss  of 
his  head  and  a  dramatic  gesture.  His  features 
were  drawn  in  the  grimness  of  a  man  who  has 
seen  savage  work  in  his  time  and  faces  more. 

"  No!  "he  said.  "  This  is  your  town  meeting! 
This  your  abc's!  This  your  constitutional  rights 
of  the  minority !  I  said  to  them,  '  I  bring  you  edu 
cation;  I  bring  you  peace,  in  the  Governor's 


NEWS  FROM  TOLL  395 

name.'  Mother  of  God!  They  have  the  peace- 
yes!  I  am  finished  with  you.  I  go  back  to  my 
people — to  my  people!  I  may  fight  you  again. 
I  know  not — but  I  go !  ' ' 

"Wait!  Wait  a  little!  See  first  who  is  to 
blame. ' ' 

"  I  know  not  who  is  to  blame.  I  care  not.  I 
know  what  is!  I  go!  " 

"  But  a  minute!  "  and  now  he  put  his  hand 
firmly  on  Don  Francisco's  shoulder.  "  Do  you 
start  at  once?  " 

' '  To-night.  I  go  by  a  trail  I  know  to  avoid  the 
beaten  track.  They  may  kill  me  on  the  way.  It 
is  nothing.  My  own  people  may  kill  me — why 
should  they  not?  May  it  please  the  Virgin 
Mother,  I  go  to  my  people !  " 

"  Then  I  will  go  with  you,  Don  Francisco,"  the 
Governor  said,  quietly;  "  if  I  may?  " 

Don  Francisco  regarded  him  sharply.  His  old 
suspicions  were  reviving. 

"It  is  a  dangerous  trail — a  hard  trail.  It  is 
not  a  trail  for  you,  Excellency." 

The  Big  Fellow  looked  down  at  the  old  man  in 
a  way  that  said  it  was  exactly  for  him. 

"I'm  something  of  a  traveler,  myself,"  he  an 
nounced.  "  I  think  I  can  go  where  you  go  and 
I'll  be  ready  in  five  minutes." 

"  If  you  will,  Excellency;  but  no  guards— no 
one  else!  " 

"  No  one!  " 

To  every  word  Ellen  had  listened,  intent  and 
sympathetic,  understanding  to  the  full  the  blow 


396  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

that  had  fallen  on  the  Governor.  When  she  heard 
that  they  were  to  go  alone  she  sprang  out  of  her 
chair  and  to  his  side. 

* '  No !  Not  when  you  are  not  feeling  well — 
don't,  Big!  "  she  said. 

"  Oh,  that  headache  is  gone.  Don't  mind  about 
that,"  he  answered,  carelessly. 

"  If  the  natives  know  that  you  are  traveling 
alone  there  is  no  telling  what  might  happen! 
Your  place  as  Governor  is  here!  "  she  insisted. 

"  Kiddy  will  do  very  well  in  my  absence.  He 
knows  the  ropes." 

"  No,  no!  Please  don't  go!  "  She  was  plead 
ing,  tremulous. 

Again,  if  he  had  not  been  too  preoccupied  to 
look  for  that  thing  he  had  longed  for,  he  might 
have  seen  it  in  her  eyes.  But  he  was  only  sound 
ing  deeper  the  meaning  of  this  new  disaster,  while 
his  anger  and  impatience  grew. 

"  I  must!  "  he  said,  face  set  and  unyielding. 
11  My  place  is  at  Toll  with  Don  Francisco.  I  am 
responsible  for  Toll!  I  am  responsible  to  him 
for  Toll!" 

She  liked  him  best  when  he  was  Olympian,  with 
all  his  great  reserve  energy  evident  in  look  and 
word.  She  had  never  before  seen  him  so  thor 
oughly  aroused  and  never  been  near  him  before  in 
a  crisis  or  when  he  was  going  into  danger. 

'  '  It  would  be  terrible  for  him  if  he  were  really 
coming  down  with  the  fever,  wouldn't  it?  "  she 
said  to  Mrs.  Staton,  after  the  Governor  had  gone 
to  change  his  clothes  for  the  journey. 


"  I  must,"  he  said.     "  My  place  is  at  Toll.     I  am  responsible  for  Toll.' 


NEWS  FROM  TOLL  397 

"  Yes,  but  he  isn't,"  Mrs.  Staton  returned. 
"  He's  a  big-hearted  boy,  the  Governor  is,  so  far 
as  I  can  make  him  out.  Sometimes,  when  he  is 
laughing  and  yarning,  I  fancy  he  is  pretty  un 
happy  inside.  This  thing  to-night  bowled  him 
out.  The  smile  wouldn't  work.  Then  came  Toll 
on  top  of  Bakan  and — what  a  man  he  is!  What 
a  task  he  has !  Oh,  that  old  beast  Prairie  Fire !  ' ' 

"  Old  beast!  "  said  Ellen. 

This  helped  them  both. 

1 '  But  if  he  were  coming  down  with  the  fever !  ' ' 
she  persisted. 

"  Fever,  fire,  and  flood  wouldn't  stop  him!  " 
said  Mrs.  Staton. 

Ellen  knew  this.  She  recalled,  regretfully,  how 
cross  she  had  been  with  him  before  she  wrote  that 
letter  to  the  Personality  which  must  have  been  in 
Washington  for  many  weeks,  now. 

The  two  women  went  with  him  and  Don  Fran 
cisco  as  far  as  the  corner  of  the  cathedral. 

"  Good-night,  Big.  Good  luck!  Keep  pro 
fessionally  cheerful,  anyway.  You  will  win!  It 
will  be  all  right!  "  Ellen  told  him.  "  I'm  sorry 
I  called  you  a  fool,"  she  added,  with  a  smile.  "  I 
didn't  really  think  you  were.  It  was  only  poetic 
license. ' ' 

"  Perhaps  I  am.  I  needed  going  over,"  he  re 
turned.  "  Good-night,  Two  Braids.  Good-night, 
Mrs.  Staton  and  Kiddy.  I'll  see  you  all  in  a 
couple  of  days." 

After  the  Governor  with  long  steps  and  the 
Presidente  with  quick,  short  ones  had  disap- 


398  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

peared  under  the  last  street  light,  a  small  figure 
came  out  of  the  Palace  by  the  back  way,  in  dis 
obedience  of  orders,  and  carefully  hugged  the 
shadow  as  it  followed  the  travelers. 

"  I  must  look  after  His  Great  Bigness/' 
thought  Benito,  the  Guardian.  "  His  Great  Big 
ness  is  so  simple." 


XXXVI 

A  BECKONING 

THE  Governor  must  save  his  second  disciple ; 
he  must  have  a  reckoning  with  the  General. 
Purpose  endowed  Don  Francisco's  old  body 
with  youth,  and  well  he  knew  his  trail.  He  had 
fled  along  it  from  the  Spaniards  and  crept  back 
along  it  after  the  Spaniards. 

Hands  and  feet  he  used  with  equal  facility  as  he 
crawled  over  the  root  ribs  of  the  great  trees  and 
let  himself  down  embankments  slippery  with  moss 
and  seepage.  He  spoke  only  to  mention  an  ob 
stacle  or  a  pitfall  to  his  companion,  who  never 
fell  behind,  Benito  dogging  his  footsteps.  Stealth 
ily  that  first  disciple  and  unquestioning  believer 
had  overtaken  the  Governor  and  softly  he  had 
said:  "  Great  Bigness,  do  not  send  me  back!  " 
and  when  he  heard  the  Governor's  pleasant  laugh 
and  felt  a  pat  on  his  head  he  knew  that  he  was 
forgiven. 

The  marchers'  eyes  became  accustomed  to  the 
darkness;  their  ears  to  the  rustle  of  the  living 
things  they  wakened;  their  nostrils  to  the  moist, 
dank  odor  of  the  unending  life  and  decay  of  the 
tropical  hothouse.  In  half  an  hour  their  satu 
rated  clothes  clung  in  soggy  folds  to  their  skins — 

399 


400  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

and  that  is  bad  for  a  man  who  is  coming  down 
with  the  fever. 

They  passed  through  clearings  where  banana, 
hemp,  and  plantain  were  grown  and  the  groups 
of  nipa  huts  were  silent,  and  then  back  into  the 
jungle,  with  limbs  and  vines  whipping  their  faces 
and  the  barbs  of  the  bamboo  tearing  their 
breeches  and  flesh;  and  this  was  the  story  of  the 
night,  when  muscles  had  no  command  except  to 
answer  the  call  of  Toll.  At  dawn  they  saw  the 
light  breaking  through  the  wet  foliage  and  the 
miasma  and  they  came  to  a  swollen  river  over 
which  the  mist  hung  in  a  still,  incandescent,  suf 
focating  plume. 

The  ford  was  flooded.  Don  Francisco  proved 
an  ill  swimmer.  The  Governor  saw  that  he  was 
making  little  headway.  In  his  stoical  mien  there 
was  no  plea  for  aid,  and  when  it  was  given  he 
received  it  with  a  vain  protest  of  pride. 

"  Keep  your  hand  on  the  ferryman's  shoulder. 
Keep  cool!  "  said  Big,  cheerily. 

"As  if  I  did  not  know  how  to  keep  cool, 
Excellency!  " 

The  current  was  swift  and  bearing  against 
them.  Inch  by  inch  the  center  rush  of  '88  had 
to  earn  his  way.  His  strength  was  flagging  when 
he  put  his  hand  on  a  root  and  drew  himself  and 
his  tow  safely  to  the  bank. 

"  You  saved  my  life,  Excellency,"  said  Don 
Francisco,  as  they  lay  blowing.  He  spoke  in  a 
fatalistic  way,  almost  grudgingly. 

By  this  time  they  were  near  Toll.    The  old  man 


A  RECKONING  401 

advised  a  sharp  lookout.  Usually,  lie  said,  you 
might  count  on  two  or  three  insurgents  in  hiding 
along  the  path.  It  occurred  to  the  Governor  for 
the  first  time,  as  they  again  took  up  the  march, 
that  he  was  unarmed.  "  Great  Bigness,  if  you 
please !  ' '  and  Benito  gave  his  own  revolver  to  Big. 
The  sun  was  drying  their  torn  clothes,  streaked 
with  earth  and  foliage  stains,  on  their  backs — and 
that,  too,  was  a  bad  thing  for  a  man  coming  down 
with  the  fever. 

Along  the  wayside  they  began  to  see  refugees 
with  their  househo]d  goods  and  poor  treasures. 
From  the  cover  of  trees  and  bushes  hunted,  curi 
ous  eyes  gazed  at  them,  and  Don  Francisco  whis 
pered  again  his  warning  as  they  scrutinized  the 
hedges  for  any  sign  of  hostility. 

"  Look  out,  Great  Bigness!  "  Benito  started 
to  cry;  but  before  the  words  were  fairly  out  they 
heard  two  shots,  and  the  Governor  dodged  at  the 
proximity  of  two  hissing  insects.  The  glint  of  the 
barrels  in  front  of  the  two  brown  faces  on  either 
side  of  a  clump  of  bamboos  he  had  seen  just  as 
they  fired. 

He  never  could  explain  his  action  to  himself 
afterward.  Any  charge  of  temerity  he  denied, 
because  it  never  occurred  to  him  that  the  two 
Mausers  must  have  other  cartridges  in  their 
magazines.  Nor  was  what  he  did  unique.  More 
than  once  at  sight  of  a  big  pair  of  shoulders,  with 
a  V  of  white  flesh  in  the  neck  of  the  blue  shirt, 
breaking  through  the  jungle  in  fierce  northern 
energy,  trigger  fingers  were  paralyzed.  And  the 


402  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

Governor  was  exasperated,  as  he  said,  and  felt 
ridiculous  for  having  dodged.  Possibly  that  is 
the  best  explanation. 

"  You  confounded  little  snipers!  "  he  yelled. 

He  indulged  in  some  of  the  profanities,  too. 
Considering  that  he  used  them  seldom,  he  used 
them  well.  They  came  out  with  a  lion-like  roar 
as  he  started  for  these  two  little  men,  shaking  his 
fist.  At  sight  of  such  a  commanding  individual, 
as  Willy  Sweetser  would  say,  they  dropped  their 
rifles  and,  eyeballs  popping,  threw  up  their  hands. 

"  Viva  George  Washington!  Viva  America! 
Viva  President  Unity  State!  Viva  Bigness! 
Viva  Goddam!  Viva  Prairie  Fire!  Mucho 
amigo!  Mucho  amigo!  "  they  cried,  in  all  the 
English  they  knew. 

The  Governor  seized  either  of  them  by  his  shirt 
back  and  what  he  gave  them  was  a  fair  example 
of  an  old-fashioned  spanking.  Then  he  swung 
the  rifles  by  the  barrels  and  smashed  them  against 
the  trunk  of  a  mango  tree.  The  natives  who 
overlooked  the  incident  sent  it  along  the  trail, 
growing  as  it  traveled  until  it  became  a  regiment 
struck  powerless  with  a  single  strong,  foreign 
oath. 

One  spectator,  at  least,  was  in  nowise  surprised. 
Had  not  Benito  told  the  Presidente  of  Toll  that 
His  Great  Bigness  could  be  the  Great  Anger? 
That  he  could  shake  down  the  cathedral  if  he 
chose? 

"  Is  that  the  way  the  constitutional  rights  of 
the  minority  fight?  "  Don  Francisco  asked,  and 


A  RECKONING  403 

for  the  first  time  on  that  march  there  was  a  trace 
of  pleasantry  on  his  lips,  which  faded  quickly, 
however,  as  they  started  on  up  the  brow  of  the 
hill  to  the  plateau  where  the  town  of  Toll  had 
been.  Only  the  Presidencia,  which  was  of  plas 
ter,  and  the  church  were  standing.  The  rest  of 
the  buildings  were  in  ashes. 

The  General  and  some  of  the  officers  were  in 
the  church  doorway;  soldiers  were  lying  asleep 
under  its  shade;  other  soldiers  were  coming  in 
small  groups  from  the  chase,  famished  and  stag 
gering,  sweat  furrows  on  their  cheeks.  Men  on 
guard  paced  up  and  down  with  languid  stride, 
rifles  under  the  arm  or  easily  thrown  over  the 
shoulder.  Their  glances  at  the  Governor  were 
far  from  pleasant.  They  knew  only  the  trail  and 
they  thought  that  his  leniency  made  them  more 
work. 

For  this  experience  of  the  last  two  days  was 
not  new  in  the  category  of  thankless  hardship. 
They  had  marched  forty  miles  on  bacon  and  hard 
tack,  sopping  wet,  with  no  way  to  boil  their  coffee. 
At  midnight  they  had  started  to  surround  the  in 
surgents  at  Tabor,  creeping  forward  in  little  par-  --> 
ties  on  their  bellies  to  find  that  the  bird  had  flown, 
and  to  hear,  in  their  weariness,  the  news  of  the 
massacre  at  Bakan  and  the  taking  of  Toll. 

You  will  sneak  up  on  a  lot  of  the  boys  when 
they're  out  playing  ball,  will  you,  you  vermin! 
The  hope  of  a  fight  at  Toll  gave  tired  legs  new 
strength.  Just  bring  out  all  the  men  and  rifles 
you  have  in  the  open  and  if  one  company  can't 


406  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

first  log  had  fallen,  in  order  that  he  might  use 
it  himself. 

That  old  couple  seemed  pretty  popular  in  the 
community.  If  Tongal  shacks  burn  easily,  they 
rise  easily  out  of  the  palm  leaves  and  bamboo  at 
hand,  without  the  use  of  a  nail,  and  soon  grand 
father  and  grandmother  were  grinning  with  their 
toothless  gums  from  the  doorway  of  a  new  home. 

The  Governor  saw  an  organization  of  relief 
begun  and  the  citizens  at  work  under  Don  Fran 
cisco's  direction  before  he  seated  himself  on  the 
steps  of  the  Presidencia  and  wrote  out  a  cable 
gram  to  Washington,  which  did  not  take  him  long, 
for  he  knew  as  well  what  he  wanted  to  say  as  he 
had  known  when  he  wrote  that  new  law  at  Willy 
Sweetser's  request.  The  evidence  was  garnered; 
the  threshing  over;  the  wheat  in  the  sack. 

His  anger  had  risen  steadily  all  the  morning. 
It  flamed  up  every  time  he  looked  at  that  vista 
of  ashes.  Thunder  was  in  his  mind  as  he  crossed 
the  street  to  the  church,  but  the  sight  of  the  old 
General  in  his  incompetency,  mopping  his  brow, 
his  whisky  flask  empty,  softened  Olympian  rage 
that  was  about  to  break.  He  recalled  to  the  Gen 
eral  all  his  protests;  he  showed  how  clear  the 
map  of  that  island  was  in  his  mind ;  he  developed 
the  errors  of  the  campaign  in  a  way  that  made 
Major  Staton,  who  was  listening,  think  it  was 
pretty  good  soldier  talk.  Prairie  Fire  was  inco 
herent  and  profane  in  answer.  He  did  not  stop 
swearing  until  he  was  out  of  breath.  Then  the 
Governor  told  him  the  contents  of  that  message  to 


A  RECKONING  407 

the  Department.  The  General  sprang  to  his  feet, 
choking  and  trembling  and  shaking  his  fist. 

"  You're  to  blame  for  this,  Staton!  "  (With 
String  No.  1.) 

"  If  every  officer  were  as  loyal  as  he "  the 

Governor  began. 

"  Loyal,  is  it!  "  (Strings  No.  1  and  No.  2.) 
61  Major,  you  are  detached  from  my  staff.  Return 
to  Takar!  And  I'll  answer  your  cable,  you  poli 
tician!  I'll  answer  it!  " 

But  that  effort,  without  any  assistance  from 
the  Major,  was  a  poor  thing  to  put  on  record 
beside  a  certain  exhibit  written  in  a  copperplate 
hand. 

The  Governor,  in  a  reaction  of  kindliness — 
after  all,  his  dominant  trail, — felt  a  little  cruel 
as  he  handed  in  his  cable  at  the  field  wire  station 
inside  the  church.  With  the  closing  sentence  he 
stated  that  Major  Staton,  by  his  ability  and  fa 
miliarity  with  the  situation,  was  preeminently 
fitted  to  command  the  forces  on  the  island. 

It  happened  that  the  telegrapher,  as  the  Big 
Fellow  approached  him,  was  talking  to  Private 
Parker  of  Company  E.  When  the  keeper  of  all 
men's  secrets — batting  his  eyes  as  he  read  the 
latest  one,  whose  significance  he  could  appreciate 
— turned  to  his  key,  Parker  took  from  the  table 
a  small  packet  of  papers  which  he  had  been  show 
ing  to  his  friend.  It  occurred  to  him  that  the 
Governor  might  be  interested  in  them. 

"  Governor,  here's  a  bunch  of  stuff  I  guess  I'll 
give  to  my  Captain  soon's  he  comes  in,"  he  said. 


408  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  Took  it  off  a  gugu  officer.  Got  him  myself, 
the  first  fair  shot  I've  had  in  two  months. 
Wanted  to  fire  at  his  red  cap,  but  made  it  army 
regulations  for  the  body.  Eight  through  the 
lungs  and  down  he  went,  monkey  red  cap  and  all ! 
Mebbe  he  was  on  Campo's  staff.  They  say 
Campy 's  staff  all  do  wear  beautiful  red  caps." 

Private  Parker  had  paid  back  a  tithe  of  the 
debt  he  owed  on  account  of  his  bunky,  How  do 
you  suppose  he  lost  his  bunky?  Why,  Jim,  who 
was  always  a  simple,  guileless  fellow,  was  doing 
sentry  go  when  one  of  your  amigo,  mealy-mouthed 
gugus  came  along  and  says  to  Jim,  who  had  his 
rifle  over  his  shoulder  careless,  what  a  big  flock 
of  birds  that  was  on  the  church  roof.  Yes,  just 
like  that. 

Jim  looked  over  at  the  birds  and  out  comes  Mr. 
Gugu's  bolo  and  one  down  stroke  in  the  neck  and 
it  was  all  up.  Yes,  that's  the  kind  of  people 
these  are.  There's  just  one  way  to  teach  'em. 
When  you  see  a  white  shirt  in  front  of  the  line 
give  poor  old  Jim,  who's  worth  the  whole  island, 
the  benefit  of  the  doubt.  And  Private  Parker  had 
marched  from  Tabor  without  stopping,  and  after 
ward  hiked  five  miles  into  the  brush,  marsh 
water  shucking  in  his  shoes. 

He  was  telling  something  about  Jim  as  the 
Governor  looked  over  the  papers.  This  time 
Cortina  had  compromised  himself  with  a  letter  in 
his  own  hand.  It  left  no  doubt  as  to  who  was  the 
prime  author  of  the  messages  sent  out  by  the 
underground  route. 


A  RECKONING  409 

"  You  can  have  'em,  if  you  like,  Governor,  but 
I'm  going  to  keep  that  red  cap  to  send  home  to 
Jim's  old  dad,  just  to  let  him  know  I  scored  one 
for  Jim,"  said  Parker. 

"  Thank  you,  Parker.  They're  just  what  I've 
been  looking  for." 

Underneath  Cortina 's  letter,  among  a  number 
of  editorial  clippings  sympathizing  with  the  in 
surgent  cause,  was  a  newspaper  portrait  of  a 
facile  orator,  with  smooth  face  and  mobile  mouth, 
— The  Thinker's  "  great  statesman  of  the  opposi 
tion," — who  had  been  exercising  the  constitu 
tional  rights  of  the  minority  in  a  speech.  Other 
letters  were  commonplace  and  domestic.  These 
the  Governor  passed  over  quickly  to  one  in  which, 
a  week  before  the  march  to  Tabor  began,  Prairie 
Fire's  plans  were  explained  in  full.  The  Governor 
thought  he  recognized  the  clerical  Spanish  chirog- 
raphy.  As  he  thanked  Private  Parker  again  and 
turned  toward  the  church  door  he  noted,  among 
the  group,  the  only  loyal  Tongal,  dapper,  neat, 
and  attentive,  standing  near  the  General,  and  he 
took  the  letter  to  Enrico. 

"  Do  you  know  this  handwriting?  "  he  asked. 

Enrico  bowed  low. 

"  Excellency "  Enrico  blanched.  "  Excel 
lency — it  is  dark  here.  Let  me  take  it  into  the 
light." 

The  faithful  one  slipped  through  the  circle  of 
officers  in  the  doorway  into  the  sunlight,  and  then 
bolted  around  the  corner  of  the  church. 

Prairie  Fire,  writing  on  his  knee,  had  not  no- 


410  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

ticed  the  incident,  though  Major  Staton  had  and 
so  had  Clancy,  who  was  waiting  to  take  the  Gov 
ernor  back  to  Takar  on  the  Paktowan.  Why  trou 
ble  the  General  further  when  he  was  struggling 
over  an  official  communication  which  must  not 
be  profane  and  Enrico  was  stealing  through  the 
jungle  and  that  chapter  ended?  the  Governor 
asked  himself. 

"  I'll  be  with  you,  Clancy,  in  a  minute,"  he 
said,  and  then  he  went  to  Don  Francisco,  who  was 
in  the  center  of  a  group,  organizing  and  giving 
orders. 

"  Don  Francisco,  when  shall  I  see  you  in 
Takar?  "  he  asked. 

"  Excellency,  you  saved  my  life.  I  thank  you, 
for  I  see  I  can  still  be  of  service,"  was  the  enig 
matic  answer. 

' '  The  little  assistance  I  gave  you  have  repaid  by 
the  order  you  are  bringing  out  of  this  chaos. 
You'll  be  in  Takar  soon?  " 

"  Excellency,"  he  replied,  with  more  than  his 
usual  politeness,  "  I  don't  know  as  I  shall  ever 
be  in  Takar.  Excellency,  all  the  work  we  have 
been  doing  together  is  over.  I  know  no  abc's  or 
constitutional  rights  of  the  minority  except  Toll. 
I  stay  with  my  people." 

"  Time!  Time!  Wait  and  think,  Don  Fran 
cisco.  Good  luck  and  good  cheer!  ' 

"  My  mind  is  made  up,  Excellency." 

Then  the  old  Presidente  turned  to  the  natives 
around  him  and  called  for  a  viva  for  the  Gov 
ernor.  They  were  always  ready  to  be  polite  and 


A  RECKONING  411 

to  cheer.  He  lifted  his  hat  to  them  and  promised 
them  aid  from  government  funds  if  they  set  to 
with  a  will  to  rebuild  their  town.  The  native  mind 
was  a  puzzle,  he  was  thinking  for  the  thousandth 
time,  as  he  turned  away. 

But  Oriental  indirection  had  not  yet  affected 
the  soldiers  who  were  lining  up  for  coffee  in  the 
shadow  of  the  church.  They  knew  now  that  he 
had  walked  from  Takar  over  night.  His  stained 
clothes  and  the  slash  of  a  bamboo  thorn  across 
his  cheek  were  in  evidence  of  the  fact.  The  big 
Governor  was  on  the  job,  anyway,  and  not  afraid 
of  spoiling  his  complexion.  They  had  even  heard 
of  how  he  spanked  the  two  bushwhackers,  which 
was  much  to  their  taste.  So  they  gave  him  a 
cheer,  that  was  pleasant  to  hear,  as  he  remarked 
to  Clancy,  on  the  way  down  to  the  river  bank 
where  the  Paktowan  was  moored. 

He  now  had  a  sense  of  his  weariness.  His  head 
was  throbbing ;  his  bones  were  aching.  Why,  yes, 
of  course.  This  was  because  he  had  had  nothing 
to  eat,  he  thought.  A  cup  of  coffee  would  soon 
put  him  right. 

Clancy  was  infectious  as  usual.  A  Governor 
bathed  and  a  Governor  combing  his  hair  in  the 
little  cabin  of  the  Paktowan  could  keep  in  tune 
with  sailor  frivolity,  while  a  meal  waited  under 
the  Lord  High  Admiral's  postage  stamp  of  an 
awning. 

"  Hello!  I  thought  I  missed  something!  "  he 
called.  "  It's  that  big  panel  picture  of  that 
pretty  girl !  ' ' 


412  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  Oh,  Clem!  "  said  Clancy,  as  if  struck  by  a 
memory.  "  The  mildew  in  the  rainy  season  is 
bad  for  photographs.  I  packed  it  away." 

"  I'll  not  give  the  mildew  time  to  spoil  that 
breakfast!  "  the  Governor  responded. 

He  tried  to  think  that  he  was  very  hungry.  But 
pretense  of  an  appetite  does  not  take  the  place 
of  one  for  a  man  coming  down  with  the  fever,  and 
he  ate  meagerly  and  told  himself  that  what  he 
really  needed  was  sleep. 

So  he  lay  down  on  Clancy's  cot  and  fitfully  nap 
ping,  while  the  Paktowan  sped  down  stream, 
thought  of  what  he  should  do  in  the  case  of  Cor 
tina;  of  the  girl  in  the  photograph  and  of  Ellen; 
of  Uncle  Theodore;  of  what  answer,  if  any,  the 
Department  would  make  to  his  wire — if  they 
might  not,  after  all,  take  Prairie  Fire's  side;  and 
of  a  thousand  things.  Once,  wakened  from  a  doze 
by  a  shot  of  pain,  he  called  for  ice. 

"  There  isn't  any  ice  nearer  than  Fading," 
said  Clancy.  "  You  must  have  been  dreaming." 

"  I  think  I  was,"  said  the  Governor,  unstead 
ily.  "  That  was  a  long  walk,"  he  explained, 
"  when  you  haven't  been  taking  much  exercise, 
Clancy." 


XXXVII 

THE    PEKSONALITY    TAKES    NOTICE 

OF  sensational  consequence,  that  news  of  the 
massacre  at  Bakan  flashed  under  the  ocean 
into  the  headlines  of  the  newspapers.    All 
the  Big  Fellow's  friends,  East  and  West,  resented 
the  stinging  editorial  paragraphs  more  than  he 
would.     Colonel  Walker  found  a  nutty  flavor  in 
them.    They  had  Harden  going.    It  was  a  good 
idea  taking  those  islands,  which  could  be  most 
useful,  after  all. 

Madame  Mother  told  Aunt  Julia  that  a  public 
man  must  expect  criticism,  and  the  killing  of  a 
teacher,  she  added,  made  one  realize  afresh  what 
a  brave  thing  it  was  for  a  girl  to  go  out  to  that 
wilderness  when  she  might  have  married  Ned 
Walker.  This  was  a  hint  to  Julia.  Was  Ellen 
really  in  danger  ?  Aunt  Julia  asked ;  and  she  grew 
nervous  and  abstracted. 

"  Martha,"  she  said,  at  length,  "  Ellen's  been 
writing  to  me  regularly,  but  I've  not  written  her 
anything  but  to  say  I  was  well.  She's  asked  me, 
or  as  good  as  asked  me,  for  forgiveness  for  going 
away,  but  she  can't  forget  that  word  I  used." 

"  I  shouldn't  think  she  could." 

"  Martha!" 

413 


414  THE  BIG  FELLOW! 

"  Yes,  Julia. " 

"Martha,  I've  done  wrong, "  Aunt  Julia  an 
nounced,  unconditionally.  "  I  am  going  to  write 
her  now,  this  minute,  and  say  I  am  sorry.  Yes,  I 
am  going  to  eat  my  humble  pie  because  it  is  right 
I  should.  I  never  had  any  reason,  never,  to  say  it, 
and  that  is  why  I've  stuck  to  it  like  a  contrary 
fool." 

Madame  Mother  smiled  happily,  her  object  ac 
complished.  Then  it  occurred  to  her  that  Mr. 
Hobber,  bringing  Mrs.  Hobber  if  he  could  coax  her 
out,  would  be  bound  to  call  that  evening,  as  he  al 
ways  did  when  there  was  any  news  from  Jimmy, 
and  she  looked  about  to  see  if  the  room  was  in 
order. 

This  time,  however,  Hiram  broke  his  rule.  He 
astounded  his  wife  by  announcing  that  he  was 
going  to  Washington. 

"  What  for?  "  she  demanded,  shrilly,  as  he 
stolidly  packed  his  valise. 

"  Business,  Mrs.  Hobber, "  said  he,  "  and  right 
on  the  night  train,  too,"  which  was  a  different 
night  train  from  the  one  Uncle  Theodore  took. 

"  It's  that  Harden  boy  again,  that's  what  it 
is !  "  declared  Mrs.  Hobber.  "  You  couldn't  think 
more  of  him  if  he  was  your  own  son. ' ' 

"  No,  ma'am,  guess  I  couldn't!  " 

'  i  Just  as  if  you  could  fool  yourself  that  wasting 
all  this  money's  going  to  do  any  good,  when  no 
body's  asked  you  to,  and  just  as  if  folks  in  Wash 
ington  air  going  to  pay  any  'tention  to  you !  " 

"  I  guess  they  will,  Mrs.  Hobber,  or  I'll  have  a 


THE  PERSONALITY  TAKES  NOTICE      415 

certain  Congressman  by  the  ears,  an'  his  fences 
ain't  in  any  too  good  condition  in  this  district, 
either." 

"Well,  Hiram,  don't  go  in  with  your  head 
down.  Talk  right  up  to  'em!  "  was  her  parting 
word;  "  an'  be  sure  you  ain't  got  the  second  but 
ton  in  the  top  buttonhole  of  your  vest !  ' ' 

Both  he  and  Dexter  were  afraid  that  the  Per 
sonality  might  not  see  the  Big  Fellow  as  they  saw 
him.  Not  so  often  as  to  Uncle  Theodore,  but  once, 
at  least,  with  the  same  candor  the  Governor  had 
written  to  Hiram  Hobber  of  his  problem  and  his 
handicaps.  The  two  self-appointed  ambassadors 
did  not  meet,  but  saw  the  Personality  at  different 
hours,  Uncle  Theodore  early  and  Mr.  Hobber  at 
the  last  moment,  holding  his  head  high  and  with 
all  five  waistcoat  buttons  in  the  right  holes. 

"  You  read  that  letter  an'  you'll  see  how  pa 
tient  a  big  man  can  be  with  a  Jonah  on  his  back, 
yes,  sir!  "  said  Mr.  Hobber. 

The  Personality  thanked  him,  and  thus  Mr. 
Hobber  had  his  say  as  the  Cabinet  gathered  for 
its  weekly  meeting  and  the  cold,  legal,  Important 
Member  came  in  from  the  apprehensive  War  De 
partment,  where  they  were  asking,  from  desk  to 
desk,  how  much  longer  this  thing  was  going  to 
last.  The  loss  of  a  private  here  and  there  might 
be  accepted  as  the  penalty  of  policing ;  a  garrison 
wiped  out  in  broad  daylight  and  a  town  taken, 
though  quickly  rewon,  opened  the  bitter  dispute 
anew. 

Now,  the  Red  Indian  fighters  demanded,  would 


416  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

the  Personality  see  how  abc's  and  town  meetings 
incited  the  natives  to  massacre  ?  And  your  young 
Governor  of  Bar,  who  was  to  handshake  the  bolo 
fiends  into  submission,  had  he  acquired  the 
manana  habit  f  Had  he  fallen  a  victim  to  tropical 
enervation  and  the  Eastern  coma  which  seem  to 
transform  the  character  of  an  official  in  six 
months ! 

The  Personality  was  in  the  attitude  of  ' '  I  want 
to  know, ' '  which  meant  that  something  was  bound 
to  happen  in  a  certain  island  and  soon.  On  the 
Cabinet  table  in  front  of  the  Important  Member 
lay  all  the  reports  from  Bar.  The  Important 
Member,  getting  his  case  in  hand,  had  read  them 
all  through  again.  When  the  Governor's  message 
from  Toll  arrived,  the  full  light  of  the  situation 
broke  on  him. 

"  You  have  seen  a  cabinet-maker  planing  and 
sawing  and  chiseling,"  he  said,  as  he  passed  the 
pile  to  the  Personality,  "  and  studied  what  the 
result  would  be.  That  cable  sets  up  the  cabinet. 
It  puts  in  the  screws.  And  the  General's  cable 
is  there,  too." 

That  prehensile,  questioning  mind  of  the  Per 
sonality  was  in  Bar  itself,  as  page  by  page  he 
tore  the  heart  out  of  these  papers.  Over  the  Gen 
eral's  cable  he  had  a  short  and  knowing  laugh. 
Then  he  took  up  the  evidence  which  Hiram  Hobber 
and  that  scholarly,  white-haired  old  gentleman, 
with  the  mellow,  pleasant  voice,  had  left.  Nor 
were  these  two  the  only  men  who  had  spoken  for 
the  Governor  without  call.  A  half  dozen  tele- 


THE  PERSONALITY  TAKES  NOTICE      417 

grams  had  arrived.  When  the  Big  Fellow  won  a 
man  that  man  was  one  to  rise  instantly  and  say : 
"  I'll  not  listen.  I  know  him.  He's  my  friend." 
This  inside  view  was  more  convincing  to  the  Per 
sonality  than  any  official  view. 

It  was  plain,  said  the  Personality,  that  Prairie 
Fire  would  have  to  go.  Who  should  take  his 
place  was  the  next  question,  a  question  of  para 
mount  importance  to  the  Governor.  The  official 
suggested  was  another  General,  known  to  his  of 
ficers  and  men  as  Fuss  and  Fury.  Of  the  same 
species  as  Prairie  Fire,  born  of  thirty  years'  fly- 
specking  in  little  Western  posts,  he  was  of  a 
different  breed.  In  place  of  erupting  he  fumed. 
He  would  stop  a  soldier  on  a  jungle  trail  to  tell 
him  that  he  was  not  wearing  his  cap  accord 
ing  to  regulations;  he  would  occupy  the  whole 
staff  for  a  week  to  account  for  the  loss  of  a  water 
bottle;  and  for  the  honor  of  the  army  he  could 
not  go  out  to  dinner  without  an  orderly  at  his 
heels. 

Yes,  but  what  had  he  done?  demanded  that  in 
satiable  Personality.  Why,  by  holding  his  num 
ber  on  the  list,  thanks  to  his  ability  to  take  nour 
ishment  and  keep  on  his  legs,  he  had  received  his 
promotion  in  turn,  as  he  would  in  a  barber  shop 
to  the  cry  of  "  Next!  "  At  present,  he  seemed 
to  be  a  negatively  satisfactory  commander  on  a 
neighboring  island  which  had  been  peaceful  from 
the  first.  To  send  him  to  Bar,  others  knew  if 
Washington  did  not,  meant  that  the  Big  Fellow 
would  have  to  begin  his  fight  afresh,  while  every 


418  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

new  evil  added  to  the  sum  of  those  the  island  had 
suffered  would  further  sterilize  the  soil  for 
the  seeds  of  civil  government  that  were  being 
sown. 

The  Personality  was  becoming  familiar  with 
the  species  and  he  did  not  like  General  Fuss  and 
Fury,  except  in  full  uniform  to  add  to  the  gayety 
of  New  York's  receptions  and  in  the  memory  of 
the  hard,  realistic  fighting  against  another  type 
of  enemy  in  his  youth.  Now  that  cable  was  read 
again  for  the  last  sentence  which  had  hung  in 
i the  Personality's  mind.  He  saw  in  it  more  than 
jpostscriptum  importance.  Divining  the  Gov 
ernor  's  handicaps,  he  understood  how  it  was  a 
cry  out  of  official  bounds  for  a  commander 
of  Big's  choice  when  the  responsibility  was  Big's. 
This  Major  Staton  was  the  man  for  the  place,  if 
only  he  had  the  rank.  Because  he  lacked  that,  the 
head  of  a  great  business  institution  could  not 
choose  an  efficient  manager  for  one  of  the  local 
branches. 

There  was  one  way  to  give  it  to  him.  A  list  of 
Brigadiers  was  going  in  to  the  Senate  that  night. 
Why  not  make  Staton  a  Brigadier?  the  Person 
ality  asked.  Knowing  glances  were  exchanged 
among  the  Cabinet  officers.  They  knew  what  had 
happened.  That  tenth  member  of  the  Cabinet, 
who  stood  on  the  arm  of  the  Personality's  chair, 
had  been  getting  his  ear  again.  Other  members 
warned  him  of  the  enormity  of  any  suggestion  of 
going  over  the  heads  of  a  hundred  officers  to 
make  a  Brigadier  of  an  unknown  Major,  neither 


THE  PERSONALITY  TAKES  NOTICE      419 

a  hero  nor  the  son  of  any  Great  Body,  who  had 
never  led  a  picturesque  charge  or  posed  for  a 
moving  picture  machine. 

"  Send  for  his  record!  "  whispered  Impulse, 
and  the  Personality  consented. 

The  record  was  brought  from  the  War  Depart 
ment,  where,  in  brief  and  stinted  phrase,  the 
career  of  an  officer  is  written.  That  of  dogged 
Major  Staton  had  needed  no  herald  to  his  fellow- 
officers  from  the  day  he  had  left  West  Point.  In 
times  of  peace  he  had  worked  as  hard  at  his  occu 
pation  as  a  busy  business  man,  doctor,  or  lawyer. 
When  there  was  no  work  he  had  made  work.  And, 
yes,  he  was  something  of  a  hero,  too.  He  had 
won  a  medal  of  honor  from  Congress  in  an  Indian 
campaign  now  forgotten ;  he  had  been  wounded  in 
Cuba,  and  he  had  made  a  long,  grilling  march  in 
the  Islands  which  all  the  sit-by-the-fires  had  said 
would  end  in  starvation  or  massacre. 

This  made  the  Personality  more  friendly  to  Im 
pulse.  Who  knew  Staton  personally!  Who  had 
seen  him?  Had  anybody  a  photograph  of  him  full- 
length?  Yes,  full  length,  the  Personality  in 
sisted.  Oh,  he  was  a  peculiar  Personality,  no 
doubt,  and  most  perplexing  to  that  Oldest  Cabinet 
Member.  Nothing  in  dress  uniform  was  forth 
coming,  happily,  but  two  campaign  groups  were 
found  which  included  a  tall  man,  with  muscle- 
walled  waist  and  broad  shoulders  under  his  khaki 
blouse,  who  looked  as  if  he  could  stand  the  strain 
of  any  climate  without  cursing  Almighty  God  for 
having  made  the  sun  shine  hot  enough  in  somo 


l-o 

isot herms  |.o  grow  oranges  for  our  breakfasts  and 
cocoa nu Is  lor  Irosting  our  cake  . 

"  Now,  YOU  Know  von  waul  to  0*0  it,"  said  Im 
pulse,  \\lio  \\.-i  .  most  hope!  ul. 

"  II':;  you  Hull  is  always  j'vlliug  me  'mlo 
trouble,"  the  Pen.nnalily  answered.  He  ^IIV(^ 
hii|'iil  ••  .1  *  nil  lo  ni.ikc  tllC  liotluM'SOinc  llnii",  Krc|> 
(purl  for  llic  iiinr  IXMMJ^.  II  \\<>nl<l  ur\ cr  do  to 
draw  nil  Ihr  lire  \\liicli  such  nu  nppoiul iiirnt 
would  uncover  at  this  time.  Near  the  buy//  of 
indignation  as  (he  old  fellows  ruin  the  army 
av,'nm  before  the  bridge  game  begins!  (Consider 
whnl  the  Folks  out.  Plymouth  KoeU  way  would 
.IN  !  Il  i  i  (Mii.i i  k.ible  how  wrong  lu»ad(Ml  thi»y 
can  be  on  occasion,  with  the  best  of  intentions. 
The  Personality  could  hear  them  declaiming 
against  this  outrage  of  replncinjv  n  noble  old  sol 
dior  with  a  young  up.l;ut  nud  per on.il  fnvorito 

thn  young  upstart  being  forty  !w<>  years  of  age. 

Hut  Impulse  was  n  most  persistent  suitor.  A 
few  people  said  il  was  l»nd  Impulse,  while  nm-,1 
people,  including  Uncle  Theodore  and  Hiram 
llohher.  .said  it  was  (iood  Impulse  and  the  best 
('nbinet  appointllHMlt  for  time  out  of  mind.  This 
was  not  the  liist  time  Impulse  had  been  culled. 
\\ell  it  knew  that  nil  was  grist  that  came  to  tin* 
Pel  (>nalil\'s  mill  and  now  was  whispered  the 
recollection  that  among  tin*  papers  and  letters 
that  Hashed  across  the  Personality's  desk,  like 
newspapers  off  the  press,  had  been  one,  some 
\\eeks  pre\  ions,  from  a  certain  schoolteacher, 
\\hich  was  promptlN  sent  for. 


TIIK  PERSONALITY  TAKES  NOTICE      421 

A  sober  Cabinet  enjoyed  Ellen's  passionate 
portrayal  of  conditions  in  Bar  no  less  than  an 
other  Cabinet  had  enjoyed  Willy  Sweetser's  pro 
test  against  Big's  appointment.  With  a  gig 
gle,  the  Oldest  Member  suggested  that  this  young 
woman  was  in  love  with  the  Governor.  Then 
came  a  remark  from  the  Important  Member. 
Least  of  all  would  you  have  expected  him  to 
answer  the  Oldest  Member's  frivolity.  But  he 
had  a  wit  which  was  like  the  winter  sunlight  on  a 
frosty  pane  of  glass,  and  that,  we  know,  may  be 
pleasant. 

"  If  she  is,"  said  he,  "  it  is  only  evidence  of  her 
good  judgment.  I  should  say  he  made  a  mistake 
not  to  propose  at  once." 

Ellen  was  turning  the  scales.  Impulse  was 
elate.  It  had  an  ally  in  none  other  than  the  Im 
portant  Member,  who  loved  efficiency  for  ef 
ficiency's  sake. 

There  was  truth,  truth  in  that  letter,  declared 
the  Personality,  tensely.  But  it  would  create  a 
row,  he  admitted. 

"  You've  been  in  a  few  rows  before,"  said  Im 
pulse,  pressing  the  point.  "  If  you  make  him  a 
Brigadier  all  the  army  can  say  is,  Well,  if  that 
sort  of  thing  is  to  be  done  you  can't  choose  a  bet 
ter  man  than  Staton." 

Yes,  by  the  Great  United  States,  the  Person 
ality  would!  Flash!  His  mind  was  made  up. 
That  old  Colonel,  incapacitated  for  field  com 
mand,  who  wanted  a  star  for  the  New  Year's  Day 
reception  and  to  be  called  General  when  so  many; 


422  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

of  the  other  old  fellows  were,  must  wait  a  little 
longer  on  the  work  unfinished  ten  thousand 
miles  away.  While  Bar  slept  the  night  after  that 
journey  from  Takar  to  Toll,  when  it  was  day  at 
home,  the  thing  was  done.  The  Personality 
crossed  out  the  name  of  the  Colonel  and  substi 
tuted  that  of  Major  Edward  Staton  in  the  list  of 
Brigadiers,  lifting  a  load  off  a  sick  Governor's 
mind  and  bringing  happiness  to  a  Major's  wife. 

Mrs.  Staton  would  see  that  star  on  her  hus 
band's  shoulder  at  once.  She  had  already  pro 
vided  herself  with  a  Lieutenant-Colonel 's  silver 
leaf — but  a  star,  a  Brigadier's  star!  The  most 
thoughtful  of  army  women  could  not  be  expected 
to  keep  one  in  stock  and  certainly  she  could  not 
borrow  one  from  Mrs.  Prairie  Fire. 

"  I  did  not  ask  for  it!  "  said  General  Staton, 
as  he  kissed  her.  Then  he  walked  around  the 
room  and  said,  "  I  didn't  ask  for  it!  "  and  kissed 
her  again.  "  It's  a  big  thing  and,  Molly,  there'll 
be  some  men  under  me  who  are  older  than  I  am 
and  we  must  be  very  nice  to  them."  He  was 
almost  talkative,  this  silent,  earnest  soldier* 
"  Molly,  I  can  carry  out  my  ideas  about  cam 
paigning  in  the  island,  now.  Think  of  that!" 
He  kept  on  walking  around  the  room  between  out 
bursts  of  speech,  and  no  chronicler  will  attempt  to 
say  how  many  tours  he  made  or  how  many  times 
he  kissed  his  wife  before  she  exclaimed: 

"  Why,  Eddy,  you're  in  command  this  minute, 
according  to  the  cable!  All  you  have  to  do  is  to 
step  across  the  street!  ' 


THE  PERSONALITY  TAKES  NOTICE      423 

"  Yes,  Molly.  I  want  to  make  it  easy  for  the 
old  General.  But  I  think  I  will  see  the  Governor 
first. " 

They  were  sure  that  they  owed  their  good  for 
tune  to  him.  It  never  occurred  to  them  that  Ellen 
had  played  any  part,  and  if  it  had  they  could  not 
have  loved  her  more  than  they  did.  Let  any 
secret  between  her  and  the  Personality  be  given 
out  from  Washington.  She  was  happy  enough 
over  the  fact  accomplished  until  the  news  came 
about  Big. 

The  Governor  was  ill,  but  still  refused  to  admit 
it.  He  managed  to  leave  the  Paktowan  when  she 
arrived  late  in  the  evening  and  with  effort  walked 
to  the  Palace.  He  slept  from  sheer  excess  of 
fatigue,  but  feverishly.  When  he  awoke  his  will 
outweighed  the  band  of  hot  lead  that  seemed  to 
lie  across  his  forehead.  If  any  suspicion  of  what 
was  coming  crept  into  his  mind,  then  it  was  the 
more  reason  that  he  should  accomplish  the  day's 
work.  He  sent  for  Cortina  at  once;  but  before 
the  doctor  arrived  came  dispatches  from  Wash 
ington  telling  of  Staton's  promotion. 

"Kiddy!  Kiddy !  "  Big  called.  "Here's  news 
to  drive  away  headache !  Bead  that !  ' ' 

"  Boss,"  observed  Kiddy,  solemnly,  "  it  makes 
me  believe  that  the  mills  of  the  gods  do  get  around 
to  everybody's  grist  after  a  while." 

"  Yes,  if  it  is  a  good  grist,"  answered  the  Gov 
ernor,  now  having  the  strength  and  humor  to  re 
ceive  Cortina,  who,  unconscious  of  why  he  was 
sent  for,  appeared  in  a  most  gracious  mood. 


424  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

i  i  Excellency,  I  hear  you  are  a  famous  walker, ' 9 
he  said.  ' '  It  was  a  most  remarkable  feat,  indeed, 
and  it  is  bound  to  impress  the  native  mind.  I 
think  you  scarcely  appreciate  how  important  your 
journey  was  in  reassuring  the  people.  I  feared 
that  there  would  be  trouble  as  soon  as  I  saw  the 
way  Don  Francisco  was  using  his  new  position. ' ' 

Thus  far  the  Governor  allowed  him  to  proceed. 
Then  Cortina,  who  rarely  looked  anyone  directly 
in  the  face,  in  the  course  of  his  shifting  glances 
saw  the  Governor's  eyes.  He  stopped  talking  and 
moistened  his  lips. 

"  You  did  not  fear  it,  Cortina;  you  planned  it," 
said  Big,  shortly. 

The  plotter  recoiled  slightly.  He  went  on  play 
ing  with  his  gold-headed  stick.  He  tried  to  smile. 

"  Excellency,  I  see  I  am  misunderstood, "  he 
said.  "  Excellency,  your  evidence!  v 

The  Governor  handed  him  a  transcript  of  the 
letter  which  Private  Parker  had  found.  Cortina, 
having  recovered  himself,  read  it  benignly. 

"It  is  unfortunate,"  he  returned.  "  Excel 
lency,  what  is  your  pleasure!  '  He  was  polite 
and  cynical.  "  Will  you  send  me  away  or 
try  me?  " 

"  I  could  try  you,  but  I  shall  not." 

"  No,  Your  Excellency  is  too  wise.  Your  Ex 
cellency  knows  too  well  what  scandal  it  would  cre 
ate  in  America.  I  should  have  statesmen  making 
a  hero  of  me,  not  to  mention  the  press — yes,  of 
me,  as  an  exponent  of  down-trodden  liberty." 

Cortina,  who  lacked  not  courage  or  audacity  of 


THE  PERSONALITY  TAKES  NOTICE      425 

a  type,  cracked  his  green  skin  in  a  fleeting 
grimace.  He  thought  he  had  struck  home. 

' '  I  will  listen  to  no  such  quibbles ! ' '  said  the 
Governor.  "  I  will  put  you  under  arrest  at  once. 
I  can  try  you  on  a  half  dozen  charges,  and  so  I 
shall,  by  the  constituted  law  of  this  land/' 

The  Governor  was  outwardly  serene,  although 
his  head  was  throbbing.  He  had  given  Cortina 
one  final  glance  and  he  was  ringing  up  the  mili 
tary  telephone  to  call  the  provost  guard. 

A  half  dozen  charges !  What  else  had  that  big 
man  in  his  possession?  Cortina  rs  feelings  must 
have  been  much  like  those  of  John  Byng  when  he 
was  asked,  "  Did  you  or  did  you  not?  "  His  eye 
lashes  flickered.  He  put  his  slim  fingers  on  the 
edge  of  the  desk  and  leaned  forward,  his  head 
near  the  Governor's  elbow.  His  bravado  was 
gone. 

"  Excellency,"  he  said,  appealingly,  "  I  fear  I 
am  a  natural  mischief-maker.  It  is  in  this  mixed 
blood  of  mine.  Education  and  jealousy  make  me 
dizzy.  Excellency,  you  are  in  the  right  and  I  am 
wrong.  Will  you  not  give  me  the  privilege  of  a 
gentleman  and  let  me  take  the  first  steamer  to 
Spain?  " 

Cortina  by  his  plotting  through  Enrico  had 
caused  the  disaster  of  Toll,  the  loss  of  Don  Fran 
cisco!  The  Governor  thought  of  these  things, 
with  his  bones  aching  from  the  effects  of  that 
night  journey.  A  big  man  himself,  he  looked 
down  on  this  little  skinny  man,  with  his  ferret 
eyes,  his  tricky  expression,  and  generosity  pre- 


426  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

vailed.     He  told  the  officer  of  the  guard  not  to 
mind. 

"  Excellency,  your  gracious  clemency  wins  me 
to  your  side,"  said  Cortina,  rising.  Secretly  he 
was  contemptuous.  What  had  the  Americans  but 
money?  How  could  they  win  when  they  were  so 
simple-minded! 

But  Cortina  would  not  depart  yet.  No,  he  must 
wish  His  Excellency  good  health  and  warn  him, 
in  polite  farewell,  to  care  for  himself  better  in 
the  fever  season.  While  he  was  speaking  Kiddy 
entered,  bringing  a  dispatch.  The  Governor  saw 
that  the  signature  was  Francisco  Martinez  and 
laid  the  dispatch  to  one  side. 

* '  Thank  you,  Cortina, ' '  he  returned,  and  added, 
on  impulse :  ' i  You  have  a  right  to  your  opinion. 
You  have  a  right  to  fight  for  it.  If  you  wish  I 
will  not  restrain  you  from  joining  the  insurgents. 
Take  your  side  against  us  in  the  open — go  ahead ! 
Then,  if  captured,  you  will  be  a  prisoner  of 
war. ' ' 

' '  Excellency,  I  think  I  like  the  climate  of  Spain 
better,"  he  answered,  though  he  meant,  all  the 
time,  to  join  the  insurgents.  "  Excellency, 
adieu!  " 

He  offered  his  hand,  but  something  in  the  Gov 
ernor's  fever  would  not  let  him  take  it.  This  was 
more  American  politeness,  Cortina  thought,  as  he 
withdrew.  He  hated  the  Governor,  who  chose 
Don  Francisco  for  a  friend,  and  would  not  receive 
his  intellectual  self  into  intellectual  companion 
ship. 


THE  PERSONALITY  TAKES  NOTICE      427 

"  If  he  had  only  said,  *  Yes,  that  is  my  side;  I 
will  fight !  '  then  I  could  have  admired  him, ' '  the 
Big  Fellow  told  himself,  as  he  took  up  Don  Fran 
cisco's  dispatch. 

"  I  remain  with  my  people,"  it  began,  in  his 
characteristic  way, i  i  to  protect  and  help  them.  If 
you  will  send  me  two  hundred  rifles  I  promise  to 
defend  Toll  myself  and  never  fire  a  shot  at  your 
soldiers,  unless  you  attack  the  town.  You  may 
send  your  teacher  and  he.  will  be  safe.  I  will  not 
send  my  troops  outside  the  province.  I  will  use 
them  in  the  province  only  to  punish  the  brigands. 
Once  I  took  your  word.  Will  you  now  take 
mine!  " 

The  Governor  read  this  carefully  a  second  time 
and  thought  over  it  before  he  put  it  back  on  the 
desk  to  wait  on  General  Staton's  coming.  Then 
he  turned  to  other  affairs,  which  he  felt,  in  some 
uncanny,  far-off  way,  ought  to  be  finished  before 
the  day  was  over.  He  looked  to  every  last  detail ; 
he  made  every  last  necessary  signature,  as  if  he 
were  going  on  a  journey.  Still  he  insisted,  in 
league  with  his  will,  that  he  was  not  ill.  He  told 
Kiddy,  when  Kiddy  protested,  that  his  flushed 
face  was  the  effect  of  sunburn,  and  he  minded  that 
he  must  be  ready  with  this  excuse  to  Staton. 

Every  paper  had  been  attended  to  except  Don 
Francisco's  message  and  he  had  already  written 
to  Madame  Mother  and  Uncle  Theodore  briefly, 
for  his  hand  was  unsteady,  in  glowing  optimism 
over  the  turn  of  affairs  and  was  just  finishing  a 
letter  to  Willy,  now  in  Japan  on  his  way  to  Bar, 


428  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

when  Staton  came  in,  and  his  eyes  lighted  with 
such  a  welcome  as  no  caller  had  ever  yet  received 
in  that  office  except  Ellen. 

"  Well,  General!  "  he  said,  with  a  happy  accent 
on  the  rank  pregnant  with  meaning,  and  that  was 
all.  It  said  everything  for  both;  everything 
that  they  might  have  spoken  and  everything 
that  the  limitations  of  language  would  have  left 
unspoken  had  they  tried  to  express  themselves. 
The  Big  Fellow  was  in  a  hurry  to  clean  up  affairs 
before  starting  on  a  journey  and  Staton,  fresh 
in  the  saddle,  was  preoccupied  with  the  march  to 
come. 

"  The  outlook  is  the  worst  it  ever  has  been, 
Staton?  " 

"  Yes,  Governor,  it  is." 

So  they  both  candidly  admitted  the  truth  at  the 
start. 

"  I  hope  we  shan't  have  to  repeat  Strong's 
continual  call  for  reinforcements,  and  with  better 
management  we  may  do  the  trick  with  the  troops 
we  already  have!  ' 

"  We  shall!  "  said  Staton,  firmly.  "  I  wanted 
to  hear  you  say  this  before  wiring  the  Depart 
ment.  These  Bakan  and  Toll  affairs,  making 
chaos,  require  that  such  changes  as  I  intend  to 
make  should  be  initiated  at  once.  In  these  I  wish 
to  carry  out  the  spirit  of  your  policy,  so  far  as 
military  necessity  will  permit.  When  it  will  not 
I  will  explain  my  reasons  and  I  shall  be  ready  to 
listen  to  yours." 

"  This  is  strange  talk  from  the  commander  of 


THE  PERSONALITY  TAKES  NOTICE      429 

the  forces  and  very  grateful,"  the  Governor  said, 
knowingly. 

"  Now,  I  think  I  understand  your  policy,  but 
may  I  hear  anything  you  have  to  say?  and  after 
ward  it  will  be  my  turn." 

The  Governor  leaned  his  head  on  his  hand, 
which  was  unusual  in  one  who  always  sat  erect 
even  when  writing,  and  went  over  his  whole  plan 
with  the  terseness  of  a  man  under  a  strain.  Then 
Staton  spoke  and,  head  on  hand,  the  Governor 
listened  and  had  little  more  to  say  before  they 
fully  understood  each  other,  and  the  Governor 
took  up  the  one  remaining  thing,  Don  Francisco 's 
telegram. 

"  I  should  like  to  do  this,"  he  told  Staton. 
"  What  do  you  think?  " 

How  Prairie  Fire  would  have  stormed  at  the 
idea !  Staton  was  plainly  doubtful. 

"  It's  a  pretty  big  risk,"  he  said,  "  giving  two 
hundred  new  Krags  to  insurgents.  If  Don  Fran 
cisco  is  beaten  the  rifles  are  taken.  Do  you  trust 
Don  Francisco?  " 

"  Yes.  He  is  a  fighter.  They'll  not  get  his 
rifles." 

But  the  Governor  was  of  a  trustful  nature, 
Staton  knew.  How  far  did  he  discriminate  in 
placing  responsibility? 

"  Governor,  I  am  going  to  ask  you  who  else  in 
Bar,  outside  of  our  own  officials,  you  trust  really, 
trust  fully  in  your  heart — men  of  importance?  " 

Besides  Don  Francisco  and  some  other  Presi- 
dentes  and  natives  the  Big  Fellow  had  to  admit 


430  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

that,  in  his  heart,  he  trusted  only  Thompson,  that 
young  American  mining  man,  and  that  straight- 
speaking  young  Australian,  Horswell,  Parko- 
witz's  assistant. 

'  *  Very  well !    I  agree !  ' '  said  Staton. 

Now  the  Governor's  desk  was  quite  clear. 
Something  seemed  to  snap  in  his  head.  Trying  to 
rise  at  the  same  time  as  Staton,  he  reeled  and  put 
his  hands  on  the  arms  of  his  chair  to  steady  him 
self.  The  General  found  them  like  fire  to  the 
touch.  Big  saw  the  cracks  between  the  hardwood 
boards  of  the  floor  writhing  and  the  boards  them 
selves  tipping  as  his  friend  supported  him  to  his 
room. 

"  You  know  how  to  keep  things  steady,  Staton," 
he  repeated  two  or  three  times  on  the  way,  and 
from  his  pillow,  where  he  sank,  beaten  by  the 
enemy  he  had  fought  hard,  it  was  good  to  look  at 
Staton 's  firm  jaw  and  square  shoulders  and  to 
think,  however  hazily,  that  General  Prairie  Fire 
was  not  in  command.  And  for  this  he  had  to 
thank  Impulse,  which  was  then  sitting  on  the 
corner  of  the  Personality's  desk  at  Washington 
on  the  lookout  for  a  fresh  opportunity. 


XXXVIII 

THE    FEVER    DEVIL 

BENITO'S  step  was  the  softest,  softer  than 
the  doctor's  or  the  nurse's.  An  automaton, 
he  pulled  the  punka  over  the  sick  bed  in 
noiseless,  even  swing. 

"  His  Great  Bigness  will  not  die.  He  is  too 
big  for  the  fever  to  kill  him, ' '  he  would  whisper  to 
himself,  in  a  brave  sort  of  reasoning  which  was 
father  to  the  wishes  of  all. 

When  the  Admiral  said  that  it  would  be  easy 
to  put  the  patient  aboard  the  flagship  and  have 
him  north  in  a  cooler  climate  before  the  crisis 
came,  the  Big  Fellow,  in  some  subtle  way, 
divined,  if  he  did  not  overhear,  the  suggestion  and 
rose  from  his  pillow  in  restless  protest. 

"No!  no!  "  he  cried.  "I'm  not  finished  here 
yet!" 

It  was  a  bad  case,  the  army  and  navy  surgeons 
agreed.  A  physique  that  could  withstand  that 
journey  to  Toll  in  the  first  stages  of  fever  and  a 
will  that  could  keep  him  at  a  desk  until  he  col 
lapsed,  reeling  and  delirious,  only  made  it  worse. 
But  the  will  might  play  a  better  part,  and  in  this 
the  surgeons  also  agreed.  The  Governor  him 
self  was  determined  that  he  would  get  well. 

431 


432  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

Before  the  crisis  a  visitor  brought  him  good 
news.  Don  Francisco,  who  came  down  the  river 
in  a  native  dugout,  went  straight  to  the  Palace, 
where  he  met  the  General  in  the  hall. 

"  Your  march  from  Takar  to  Toll  was  in  the 
dry  season,"  he  said,  proudly,  and  Staton  was 
glad  to  grant  him  all  the  honor  he  desired.  ' i  He 
and  I  walked  in  the  rainy  season.  He  saved  my 
life.  He  is  my  friend.  As  soon  as  my  troops  are 
trained  to  fight  with  your  rifles  and  defend  Toll  I 
will  go  on  with  the  work  he  taught  me  to  do." 

Ellen  thought  that  it  might  help  Big  if  he  could 
see  Don  Francisco. 

1 1  Someone  has  come, ' '  she  whispered  to  him. 

The  Big  Fellow  opened  his  eyes  and  knew  that 
sturdy  figure  in  the  doorway  and  smiled. 

"  It  is  as  it  was  before,  Excellency,"  said  the 
Presidente  of  Toll. 

"  Don  Francisco!  As  before!  This  is  good — 
good!  We'll  do  much  together,"  he  uttered,  dis 
connectedly.  "  When  I  am  back  on  my  feet  we 
can  start  right." 

He  closed  his  eyes  and  Don  Francisco  padded 
back  into  the  hall. 

"  Will  you  tell  me  with  your  tick-tick  wires 
every  day  how  he  is?  "  the  Presidente  asked  the 
General.     "  But  His  Excellency  will  get  well- 
yes,  he  will!     The  Honorable  Lincoln  would  be 
too  lonesome  without  him." 

Big  liked  to  hear  Kiddy's  voice  and  Staton 's. 
Otherwise,  he  was  restless  and  kept  calling  for 
them,  especially  Staton,  "  who  is  keeping  things 


THE  FEVER  DEVIL  433 

steady — keeping  things  steady,"  he  would  say. 
When  they  appeared  he  was  reassured.  Ellen  he 
wanted  more  frequently.  In  a  lucid  moment  he 
would  look  up  at  her,  surprised  and  pleased,  with 
a  faint: 

"  Hello,  Two  Braids!  " 

' '  Hello,  Big !  ' '  she  would  answer,  as  cheerfully 
as  she  could.  "  You're  doing  finely." 

It  was  unearthly  and  terrible  to  her  to  see  him 
lying  in  that  darkened  room  with  his  face,  grown 
thinner,  against  the  pillow — to  see  him,  Big  who 
was  never  sick  before,  helpless  as  an  infant. 

"  I  will  do  it!  I  will!  "  he  said,  in  a  moment 
of  delirium,  exposing  the  heart  of  his  policy. 
"  They've  killed  twenty  of  our  soldiers !  They've 
burned  Toll !  But  I  will  do  it— I  will— and  with 
mind  and  character  and  patience  and  without  kill 
ing.  Yes,  with  mind  and  character,  and  I'll  walk 
across  the  island  unarmed  and  I'll  see  all  the 
Tongals  happy  and  peaceful,  running  their  own 
village  affairs,  before  I  go." 

At  times  only  Ellen  could  quiet  him.  He 
seemed  to  know  her  touch  if  she  put  her  hand  on 
his  head. 

"  All  right,  Two  Braids,  all  right." 

In  his  wanderings  he  never  mentioned  her  ex 
cept  as  the  Two  Braids  of  the  days  before  she 
went  away  to  school.  He  spoke  of  everyone  else; 
he  lived  over  many  scenes.  Was  there  some 
psychological  action  that  set  her  apart  in  his 
mind? 

Yes,  he  considered  her  as  a  little  girl,  she  told 


4,34  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

herself  bitterly,  not  important  enough  to  enter 
into  his  life.  Then  she  accused  herself  of  selfish 
ness  for  allowing  such  thoughts  to  have  a  place. 
What  did  it  matter?  If  they  should  lose  Big- 
no  !  She  could  not  bear  to  go  beyond  the  hyphen 
of  the  unexpressed. 

When  he  lay  so  quiet  that  he  no  longer  spoke 
or  noticed  anyone  and  the  doctor  said  that  in  a 
few  hours  they  would  know  the  worst,  she  left  the 
Palace.  She  had  not  the  courage  to  wait  for  the 
look  on  the  doctor's  face  that  would  tell  the  story. 

In  these  trying  hours  no  one  had  anything  to 
say.  The  General  read  reports  whose  lines  lay 
one  over  the  other;  Mrs.  Staton  tried  to  sew; 
Kiddy  Witherbee  stood  motionless,  staring  out  of 
the  window  at  nothing;  Ellen  went  to  her  room 
and  threw  herself  on  the  bed.  Thoughts  came  too 
fast  for  her  to  be  still.  She  arose  and  went  to  the 
table  by  the  open  window  and  tried  solitaire, 
shuffling  frantically  and  playing  rapidly,  not 
noticing  that  some  of  the  cards  had  fallen  on  the 
floor.  Yes,  rapidly  for  a  time,  then  desultorily, 
then  stopped,  while  her  gaze  wandered  to  the 
plaza. 

The  faces  of  the  natives  seemed  cunning  and 
malicious.  Their  slow  steps  had  the  deadliness  of 
fate.  That  old  cathedral  was  ghostly,  unnatural, 
and  foreign ;  its  moss  patches  so  many  ugly  blots. 
That  Palace  was  a  prison;  its  white  walls  under 
the  blazing  sun  oppressed  her  sight.  She  looked 
away  from  the  foreground  to  the  perspective  of 
the  green  hills,  which  were  a  black,  shiny,  repellent, 


THE  FEVER  DEVIL  435 

unreal,  theatrical  green,  and  recalled  the  odor  of 
the  jungle  and  the  march  that  Big  had  made. 
Even  the  retrospect  of  her  own  school-children  at 
their  Ked,  White,  and  Blue  made  a  singsong  of 
mockery  in  her  ears. 

She  closed  her  eyes  and  saw  another  world: 
Aunt  Julia  was  chiding  her;  she  heard  Madame 
Mother's  gentle  voice,  Hiram  Hobber's  nasal 
drawl,  Pam's  soft  chuckle.  She  saw  the  snow  on 
the  ground,  the  trees  bare,  and  heard  the  sound 
of  sleighbells ;  the  lawn  and  the  first  wild-flowers 
in  spring  breaking  out  of  the  moist  earth;  the 
cherry-trees  in  bloom  and  fruiting,  and  all  the 
green  of  the  oak,  the  maple,  and  the  beech,  fresh, 
hopeful,  in  its  youth,  and  again  the  wondrous 
tints  of  October,  and  heard  the  singing  of  the 
crickets  cheerfully  welcoming  a  season's  change 
in  the  land  where  the  sunlight  kisses  the  frost. 

Beside  those  things  of  home,  how  repugnant  all 
this  she  saw  from  the  window — all  this  monotony 
of  continuous  heat  and  vegetable  life  that  smoth 
ered  human  life!  She  was  personal;  she  was 
bitter.  She  was  angry  with  Miss  Destiny.  If 
they  should  kill  Big — Big  who  was  worth  all  the 
Islands  together !  Lips  tight  set  and  eyes  glazed, 
she  stared  at  the  square  and  saw  General  Staton 
coming  from  the  Palace.  He  would  know.  He 
was  coming  at  a  rapid  gait,  but  to  her  all  too 
slowly  and  then  all  too  fast.  Could  she  tell  the 
news  from  his  face  which  so  well  concealed  his 
thought!  Then  in  a  swooning  moment  things  be 
came  splintery — and  she  did  not  seem  to  see  him 


436  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

at  all,  but  came  back  to  herself  with  the  sound  of 
his  voice.  He  was  standing  under  the  window  and 
swinging  his  hat  as  though  he  had  won  the  great 
est  charge  of  history. 

< <  It's  all  right!  He'll  get  well!  "  he  called  to 
Mrs.  Staton,  who  was  on  the  porch.  "  It's  all 
right,  all  right,  all  right,  Molly!  " 

Ellen  ran  downstairs,  where  the  three  looked 
at  one  another  through  tears.  Their  unspoken  re 
joicing  told  each  one  how  deep  a  hold  this  big 
man  had  on  that  little  community. 

' t  He  is  very  weak  but  quite  himself, ' '  the  Gen 
eral  said,  "  and  he  asked  for  you.  You  do  seem 
to  be  his  favorite  nurse." 

He  went  to  the  telephone  and  over  all  the  mili 
tary  wires  sent  the  glad  news  ticking  through  the 
island  to  the  troops,  to  Don  Francisco,  and  to  the 
natives,  while  Ellen  hastened  to  the  sick-room, 
where  the  Big  Fellow  lay,  ghostly  white  and  hag 
gard  on  the  pillow,  scarcely  able  to  turn  his  head 
and  smile. 

"  Hello,  Two  Braids!  "  he  said.  "  We  did  it! 
We  won!  " 

"  Oh,  Big!    Everyone  is  so  happy!  ' 

In  an  impulse,  she  kissed  him  on  the  forehead 
and  flushed  for  having  done  so,  while  a  trace  of 
color  came  to  his  cheeks  and  flickered  away  in 
his  exhaustion,  as  he  closed  his  eyes  and  fell 
asleep. 

Now  they  had  to  look  forward  only  to  his  recov 
ery,  while  Staton  went  among  the  provinces,  or 
ganizing  and  planning. 


THE  FEVER  DEVIL  437 

"  I'm  keeping  things  steady/'  the  new  General 
told  the  Governor.  "  But  you  are  not  to  worry 
or  think  about  it.  There's  no  bad  news." 

When  Big  was  able  to  sit  up  he  began  to  ask 
questions. 

"  Boss,"  said  Kiddy,  "  the  doctor  says  that  to 
recuperate  you  ought  to  go  to  a  cooler  climate; 
but  as  you  won't,  he  and  the  General  and  I  have 
entered  into  a  conspiracy.  There's  big  work 
coming  and  we  want  you  ready  for  it.  When  you 
are  able  to  go  into  harness  you're  to  be  put  in  the 
know  all  at  once.  Let  you  have  a  hold  and  there'll 
be  no  keeping  you  from  wanting  the  whole  thing. 
So  you  are  to  get  nothing." 

The  Big  Fellow  demurred  at  first.  How  was  he 
to  keep  his  mind  off  his  island?  After  a  little 
thought  he  said: 

"  All  right,  Kiddy.  You  and  Staton  keep  it 
steady  till  I'm  ready  to  ride." 

With  his  rapidly  gaining  strength  there  was 
nothing  for  him  to  do  except  to  sit  on  the  shady 
side  of  the  porch  and  receive  the  short  calls  of 
the  officers,  soldiers,  and  natives,  and  the  little 
group  of  friends  in  Takar.  Father  Tim  could 
read  Mr.  Dooley  in  a  way  to  bring  Archey  Road 
to  Bar,  while  Staton,  when  present,  had  as  little  to 
say  as  Mr.  Hennessy.  W.  W.  developed  another 
side  in  his  droll,  lisping  rendition  of  Huckleberry 
Finn,  a  character  after  his  own  heart;  and  Ser 
geant  Smith — Captain  Smith,  we  beg  his  pardon 
— had  some  most  remarkable  stories  about  adapt 
ing  the  native  mind  to  the  constabulary,  which  he 


438  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

never  told  until  he  had  supplied  them  with  legs 
so  they  could  travel  well. 

"  You're  all  so  good  to  me,"  the  Governor 
would  say,  now  and  then.  "  It's  a  good  world, 
I  tell  you,  W.  W." 

"  Yes,  indeed,"  said  W.  W.,  "  and  when  you 
consider  how  bad  it  was  once,  why,  it's  quite  en 
couraging  to  anybody  who  is  trying  to  make  it 
still  better." 

Law  reviews,  books,  magazines,  and  news 
papers,  not  to  mention  the  letters  immediately  de 
voured,  had  accumulated  in  a  pile  under  the 
cozening  eye  of  Kiddy,  who  was  a  strange  senti 
mentalist  in  that  he  did  not  want  them  opened  till 
the  Boss  was  ready.  Ellen  took  off  the  wrappers 
and  read  from  them  whatever  Big  chose  to  hear. 
Even  after  he  was  able  to  read  himself,  he  pre 
ferred  to  depend  on  her;  while  Clancy,  when  in 
Takar,  would  sit  with  his  hands  clasped  over  his 
knees  and  his  back  against  a  porch  pillar  watch 
ing  Ellen  more  intently  than  he  listened. 

It  was  when  Clancy  was  not  present  that  the 
Big  Fellow  recurred  to  a  matter  that  had  troubled 
him. 

"  I  suppose  I  talked  a  lot  of  foolishness  and 
unreality  when  I  was  sick,  Two  Braids,"  he  said. 

1 '  No,  Big.  Just  of  home  and  friends  and  work 
— and  made  everybody  feel  that  they  knew  you 
and  liked  you  better — nothing  that  your  old  com 
rade  hadn't  heard  before." 

In  this  way,  working  relations,  if  they  had  ever 
been  broken,  were  perfectly  reestablished. 


XXXIX 

BIG'S   CAREER   AT   A   CRISIS 

NO  Enricos  now  shared  the  secrets  of  the 
commander  of  the  forces.  Through  loyal 
natives  and  a  proper  scouting  service  he 
was  better  informed  of  what  the  enemy  was  doing 
than  the  enemy  of  what  he  was  doing.  The  troops 
were  no  longer  marched  on  fruitless  errands. 
When  they  went  on  a  "  hike  "  they  usually 
bagged  the  game  they  sought. 

In  a  few  words  Staton  rendered  an  account  of 
his  stewardship  to  the  Governor  without  requir 
ing  even  the  No.  5  String  of  profanities  to  make  a 
situation  clear. 

"  I  have  done  as  you  desired/'  he  said,  finally. 

"  You  have,  precisely, "  the  Governor  assured 
him. 

No  schoolhouses  had  been  burned  and  no  teach 
ers  killed  and  in  the  garrison  towns  a  better  spirit 
was  prevailing.  Yet  Staton  had  only  held  the  sit 
uation  steady.  His  account,  although  he  himself 
did  not  make  the  point,  was  a  revelation  of  what 
a  disaster  had  been  inevitable  if  Prairie  Fire  had 
remained  much  longer  in  command. 

Cortina,  in  hiding  in  the  jungle,  was  really  mas 
ter  of  the  native  forces  through  the  hand  of 

439 


440  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

Campo,  while  the  brigand  Pardo  had  over  five 
hundred  men.  In  all,  Cortina  had  four  thousand 
Mausers,  it  was  said,  which  he  had  brought  in 
before  the  change  of  Generals.  Each  man  keep 
ing  his  own  rifle  and  ammunition,  the  insurgent 
forces  drilled  by  night  in  the  mountains,  return 
ing  to  their  homes  by  day,  while  they  waited  on 
the  word  for  the  grand  attack  and  victory  that 
The  Thinker  had  promised  them. 

To  offset  this  bad  news  came  good  news  from 
Don  Francisco. 

"  Good  friend  who  saved  my  life,"  he  wrote, 
"  Senor  and  Senora  Sanchez  send  their  most 
beautiful  salutations  on  Your  Excellency's  benign 
restoration  to  health.  If  you  do  not  remember 
Senor  and  Senora  Sanchez,  I  am  the  one  to  tell 
you  that  they  are  the  old  couple  that  you  honored 
with  cutting  the  first  bamboo  for  their  house. 

"  All  the  days  when  the  tick-tick  wire  so  very 
sad  and  slow  it  told  us  nothing  except  you  were 
alive,  Senor  and  Senora  Sanchez  they  sit  in  their 
door  and  say:  '  His  Bigness  is  too  big  for  the 
fever  to  kill  him;  he  will  live.7  When  the  tick- 
tick  wire  it  said  so  fast  and  so  happy  how  the  sol 
dier  doctor  who  finds  out  things  so  quick  say  you 
would  get  well,  Senor  and  Senora  Sanchez  were 
like  little  children  for  happiness,  and  they  say: 
'  We  told  you  so.  Now  will  you  say  the  old  folks 
have  no  wisdom  in  their  white  pates?  '  We  make 
the  great  holiday  for  everybody  and  the  school 
boys  and  girls  they  march  around  singing  the 
Eed,  White,  and  Blue.  I  tell  them  that  was  the 


BIG'S  CAREER  AT  A  CRISIS  441 

proper  respect  to  show,  and  my  people  do  as  I 
say. 

"  Good  friend,  I  hear  you  sit  on  the  porch  and 
eat  with  grand  appetite  of  seven  giants  to  bring 
back  your  great  strength.  I  would  come  to 
brighten  my  eyes  by  looking  on  your  face,  but  Don 
Francisco  of  Toll  he  is  the  busy  man  and  he  has 
many  friends  who  wait  for  him  on  the  trail  out 
side  Toll  to  make  of  him  the  corpse.  If  they  can 
kill  Don  Francisco  it  will  be  a  good  stroke  for  all 
bad  men,  and  Don  Francisco  he  likes  that  life  you 
saved  so  well  that  he  make  a  disappointment  to 
these  friends. 

"  I  am  writing  a  letter  to  the  General,  asking 
him  for  the  Mauser  ammunition  for  our  fifty  new 
rifles.  Yes,  friend,  I  am  a  thrifty  man.  I  make  the 
two  hundred  rifles  grow.  I  now  have  two  hun 
dred  and  fifty  and  Aguillo  he  work  on  the  new 
market  road  I  build. 

' '  Aguillo,  that  boy,  I  knew  him  when  he  was 
little !  He  had  the  good  looks  and  the  smartness 
which  make  a  fool  of  him.  The  cock-fights  and 
the  gambling  for  Aguillo!  He  never  work,  but 
would  be  a  brigand,  a  grand  brigand  like  the 
Pardo,  and  from  the  brigand  he  rise  to  the  insur- 
recto,  and  he  say  that  old  Don  Francisco  he  was 
what  your  soldiers  call  the  back  number.  He  dig 
me  the  trap.  I  fall  in,  he  think,  and  I  push  him  in 
and  he  and  his  brigands  they  dig  now,  but  not  the 
trap.  I  was  not  the  back  number ;  Aguillo,  he  was. 

"  Good  friend,  it  is  not,  is  it,  a  wrong  for  the 
constitutional  rights  of  the  minority  to  make  the 


442  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

brigand  work?  Did  the  Honorable  Lincoln  think 
that  the  people  should  earn  the  rice  for  the  brig 
and  who  steal  and  kill,  and  let  the  brigand  sit  in 
the  shade  to  eat  it? 

i '  I  give  Aguillo  such  good  advice  as  the  Honor 
able  Lincoln  would.  I  tell  him  that  he  has  held 
up  many  people  on  the  way  to  market  and  he 
ought  to  be  happy  to  make  a  good  road  to  market. 
Oh,  yes,  and  I  tell  him  that  if  he  study  the  con 
stitutional  rights  of  the  minority  and  learn  how 
to  work  I  will  let  him  work  for  himself  like  an 
honest  man  one  day. 

"  Our  new  teacher  has  the  windows  to  his 
face  as  big  as  the  Kiddy  of  His  Bigness.  He  is 
what  you  call  in  the  America  the  baseball  crank. 
When  he  said  he  could  make  a  ball  curve  I  greatly 
disbelieved  so  strange  a  travel  tale;  and  he  tell 
me  to  stand  behind  a  tree  and  he  would  prove  to 
me.  I  stood  behind  the  tree  and  I  get  the  sore 
shoulder  and  also  what  your  soldiers  call  the 
laugh.  I  try  to  catch  the  ball  and  I  hold  my  arms 
out  stiff  and  my  fingers  get  the  great  pain.  I  will 
not  try  again.  It  is  not  for  the  old  man  to  make 
the  new  tricks  or  to  be  foolish  before  his  people. 

"  The  young  boys  they  learn  the  baseball  fast 
and  they  make  the  great  noise  which  the  teacher 
calls  the  rootings,  and  the  rootings  are  greatly 
important.  We  have  the  two  teams,  a  team  for 
the  north  side  and  the  south  side  of  the  street, 
and  they  practice  the  curve  instead  of  the  killing 
and  they  make  many  quarrels  about  the  umpire, 
who  is  like  the  Governor.  He  has  all  the  troubles 


BIG'S  CAREER  AT  A  CRISIS  443 

and  is  not  in  the  game.  I  tell  the  teacher  that 
the  baseball  bat  is  better  than  the  bolo  and  he 
say :  <  Don  Francisco,  you  understand  the  Hon 
orable  Lincoln  very  well.' 

"  Good  friend,  I  may  get  the  three  hundred 
rifles  and  make  the  new  road  still  longer  yet. 
Good  friend,  Toll  is  safe.  Don  Francisco  keeps 
the  faith.  I  send  you  my  salutations  and 
obeisances." 

66  You  were  right  about  Don  Francisco,"  said 
the  General.  '  '  Giving  him  the  two  hundred  rifles 
was  the  best  stroke  yet.  I  wish  there  were  only 
more  of  him.  But  you  will  find,  Governor,  that 
your  seed  is  already  bearing  some  fruit.  It  is 
bringing  the  industrious  and  peaceful  to  your 
side." 

"  Good!    Good!  "  cried  the  Governor. 

"  But  the  lawless  are  the  more  bitter,  and  bit 
terest  against  Don  Francisco.  The  wolves  form 
in  packs  for  the  fray.  We  must  have  harder  fight 
ing  than  we  have  seen  yet.  The  soldiers'  turn  is 
coming." 

"  Let  us  send  for  Don  Francisco,"  said  the 
Governor,  changing  the  subject. 

The  old  Presidente  refused  a  guard,  though  his 
life  was  in  danger  the  minute  he  left  his  own 
province.  Over  night  he  slipped  down  the  river  in 
a  dugout,  and  in  high  good  humor  appeared  not 
long  after  sun-up  at  the  Palace. 

"  I  have  the  great  news,"  he  said,  "  which  I 
heard  only  a  few  minutes  before  my  departure 
from  a  man  I  can  trust.  Excellency,  you  were  too 


444  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

simple  when  you  let  the  Doctor  Cortina  go.  You 
should  have  put  him  in  jail." 

1  i  I  took  his  word.  He  lied, ' '  answered  the  Gov 
ernor. 

' i  And  as  an  exile  he  could  have  returned  to  the 
island  from  Fading,"  put  in  the  General. 

"  Cortina,  he  has  the  gift  of  rousing  the 
natives,"  continued  Don  Francisco.  "  He  has  the 
great  brain  with  the  hell  streak  in  it,  and  he 
would  do  the  great  thing.  He  sees  you  keep  fewer 
troops  in  Takar.  With  the  swoop  of  the  eagle, 
when  the  dry  season  begins,  he  will  gather  his 
bands  and  sweep  down  on  the  capital." 

"  We  shall  not  be  idle  in  the  meantime,"  said 
Staton. 

The  Governor,  as  they  were  talking,  had  on  his 
lap  a  new  military  map  of  the  capital  and  vicinity, 
which,  as  a  part  of  Staton 's  indefatigability,  the 
staff  had  been  preparing.  He  was  looking  at  it 
as  he  spoke. 

"  Now  the  crops  will  soon  be  in  such  a  state," 
he  said  to  Don  Francisco,  "  that  the  people  will 
have  only  to  wait  on  the  ripening,  and  Cortina 
will  probably  strike  about  that  time." 

"  I  should  say  yes,  Excellency." 

"  We  could  bring  all  the  friendly  people,  who 
fear  the  insurgents,  into  our  garrison  towns  for 
a  time  without  much  trouble  and  protect  them 
there.  Then  they  could  return  and  harvest  their 
crops." 

'  '  Yes,  Excellency.  Five  out  of  six  of  the  people 
want  only  peace.  One  out  of  seven  was  always 


BIG'S  CAREER  AT  A  CRISIS  445 

a  brigand.  All  the  fightings  make  the  brigandage 
good  business,  as  your  soldiers  say.  Two  men  out 
of  seven  with  the  rifles,  and  that  is  what  you  call 
the  military  power  of  the  minority." 

"  Then,  General,  if  Cortina  wishes  to  come  in 
with  our  garrison  in  his  rear  we  might  let  him 
come,"  the  Governor  concluded. 

"  Governor,  you  plagiarize  my  plan  of  cam 
paign!  "  returned  Staton,  who  could  see  the  map 
with  his  eyes  shut.  "  I  shall  be  criticised,  but  I'll 
do  it.  And  if  we  should  fail — well,  we'll  bear  the 
blame  and  the  scoffing.  Therefore  we  must  not 
fail!" 

Don  Francisco  was  something  of  a  strategist 
himself,  as  we  know.  He  caught  the  drift  of  the 
plan  in  a  gesture  of  enthusiasm. 

"  When  the  garrisons  march  in  behind  and  it  is 
thus  " — he  interlocked  his  fingers — "  I  may  have 
the  three  hundred  rifles  to  help." 

"  And  possibly  we  may  bag  them  without  much 
loss  of  life,"  the  Governor  suggested,  hopefully. 

Staton  shook  his  head  decidedly. 

"No!  Our  forces  are  so  meager  that  a  hard 
fight  will  be  necessary,"  he  declared.  "  And  per 
haps  they  will  smell  a  rat  and  we  can't  draw  them 
in." 

"  Yes,  Cortina  is  the  ferret  for  cunning,  but  his 
vanity  makes  him  the  fool,"  Don  Francisco 
added.  "  I  think  he  will  come — if  we  encourage 
him." 

"  The  toll  will  be  heavy,"  said  Staton.  "  Fin 
ally,  Governor,  shall  I  go  ahead  on  this  plan?  Do 


416  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

you  agree?  Shall  we  try  to  end  it  all  in  one 
blow?  " 

For  eighteen  months  the  Big  Fellow  had  been 
in  Bar.  Come  to  establish  order,  disorder  ruled. 
Come  to  make  laws,  he  might  not  yet  frame  them. 
What  would  Washington  say  to  that  young  civil 
Governor,  backed  by  a  commander  of  his  own 
choice,  when  it  heard  of  a  battle  at  the  door  of 
the  capital?  What  would  the  public  say?  The 
real  crisis  of  Big's  career  was  near. 

' i  Go  ahead !  ' '  he  said,  stiffening,  but  still  with 
the  hope  that  he  could  separate  the  wolves  from 
the  sheep  by  means  of  mind  and  character  and 
without  killing. 


XL 

WILLY  AS   A  TKAVELER 

THERE  was  no  doubt  of  it.    Anyone  familiar 
with  Ms  habits  would  have  known  by  the 
havoc  at  the  landing-place,  without  seeing 
Willy  himself,  that  he  had  arrived.    In  his  retinue 
were  three  Chinese,  two  Filipinos,  a  monkey,  half 
a  dozen  parrots,  and  a  tall  Sikh  with  a  mountain 
ous  turban. 

"  Don't  ask  me  where  I  got  them!  "  he  said, 
after  he  had  hugged  Big  as  well  as  he  could, 
considering  Big's  size  and  his  own  height,  and 
Big  had  fairly  lifted  him  off  his  feet.  '  '  They  just 
came  along.  They  saw  I  was  a  good  thing.  They 
get  in  one  another's  way,  but  they're  like  most 
folks  in  that  they  all  know  when  it's  pay-day. 

' '  Here,  there,  you,  Ballyhoo,  you  leave  the  par 
rots  to  Long  Sing.  Ballyhoo's  in  disgrace.  He 
let  my  best  par  roquet  investigate  the  first  elec 
tric  fan  he  had  ever  seen.  Then  Ballyhoo  stuck 
his  finger  in  to  see  why  the  parroquet  lost  his 
head.  Pack  along  here,  Luiz  and  Jose,  and  you, 
Ah  Ching,  get  the  things  into  the  carriage  and 
don't  try  to  ride  on  the  wheels.  Let's  walk,  for 
Heaven's  sake,  and  feel  we're  alive!  I've  heard 

447 


448  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

the  call  of  the  East,  all  right — calling  me  home 
to'  apple-pie  land !  ' ' 

Adroitly,  in  this  interval  while  Willy  paused 
for  breath,  as  they  saw  the  caravan  start,  Benito 
in  charge,  with  themselves  in  the  rear  on  foot, 
the  Governor  managed  to  say  a  word.  He  asked 
about  the  folks  at  home. 

1  i  Going  to  tell  you  soon  as  I  get  moving.  Say, 
but  it's  good  to  see  you,  you  old  deserter,  old 
Olympus,  old  law  and  the  light!  But  you're 
thin — that  fever,  eh?  I  nearly  went  wild  when 
I  heard  of  it.  I  think  I  abused  the  Minister  and 
the  Consul  in  Japan  because  they  belonged  to  the 
same  government  that  sent  you  out. ' ' 

"  And  the  folks?  "  Big  asked. 

"  Uncle  Theodore  and  I  dined  at  Jerry's  the 
last  night,  and  we  went  up  the  street  singing  and 
he  saw  me  aboard  the  train.  Jerry  hasn't 
changed.  He  stands  there  in  the  same  judicial, 
far-off  way,  as  much  as  to  say,  when  you've  made 
up  your  mind  that  you're  going  to  have  oysters 
on  the  half  and  a  steak  Jerry  style  and  potatoes 
Jerry  style,  when  you've  been  intending  to  have 
them  all  the  time,  I'll  pass  the  order  to  the 
cook." 

"  Don't  talk  about  oysters  on  the  half  shell 
and  such  things  when  I've  got  such  an  appetite 
after  the  fever!"  Big  pleaded.  The  soldiers 
would  desert  the  garrisons  if  they  thought  there 
were  oysters  on  the  half  shell  in  Takar." 

' i  Just  old  chicken,  year  in  and  year  out,  steady 
company  chicken  down  here,  isn't  it?  I  know! 


WILLY  AS  A  TRAVELER  449 

I've  been  on  it  two  weeks.  Same  linen-legged, 
tow-breasted  chicken!  At  least,  I  suppose  it's 
the  same.  I  never  could  make  any  marks  on  it 
to  identify  it  when  it  came  back  the  next  meal. 
The  mangos  are  pretty  good,  though,  if  you  go 
at  them  in  a  free  and  manly  way,  with  no  handi 
caps,  by  taking  off  your  clothes  and  getting  into 
a  bathtub." 

"  But  the  folks?"  Big  pursued.  "  Madame 
Mother  and  Aunt  Julia?  " 

"  Well,  I'm  kind  of  an  adopted  son  at  Bolton, 
now.  I've  been  helping  to  keep  the  lamp  burn 
ing  to  welcome  the  prodigal  home.  They're  well 
and  happy  and  proud!  I  ran  up  a  number  of 
times  and  took  them  out  in  the  machine.  '  If 
you  will  not  go  too  fast,'  they  said,  i  to  start 
with.'  I  said,  '  How  fast?  '  and  they  consulted 
and  said  about  three  miles  an  hour.  I  had  Pam 
along,  too,  on  the  front  seat  with  me.  *  Dis  yeah 
ain'  flyin',  no  how,'  he  said,  '  but  it  shuah  beats 
any  ska  tin'  in  summer  time  I  evah  heard  of.' 
They  kept  saying  a  little  faster  and  a  little  faster, 
these  two  old  ladies,  so  serene  and  their  eyes  so 
bright,  till  I  had  it  up  to  forty,  and  I  said  to  my 
self,  '  Look  here !  It  might  be  all  right  if  they 
were  my  mother  and  aunt,  but  I  take  no  risks 
when  they're  Big's;'  and  I  kept  it  down  after 
that." 

"  Willy,  there  never  was  anyone  like  you!  ': 
said  the  Big  Fellow.  ' '  Now  I  do  know  that  they 
are  all  right.  I  have  their  letters,  but  these,  I 
might  be  sure,  would  be  cheerful." 


450  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  Just  as  yours  are,"  returned  Willy. 

"  Yes,  just  as  mine  are!  And  it's  been  a  hard 
fight!  a  hard  fight!  "  This  he  could  confess  to 
his  closest  friend. 

"  With  the  heat  to  bear  at  the  same  time.  This 
heat  is  like  sitting  in  a  hot  pressroom  watching 
blank  paper  roll  off  the  press  forever.  Every 
thing  grows  but  men  and  nothing  happens.  They 
talk  about  the  beautiful  Pacific.  It  is,  if  you  like 
to  sail  over  a  mill  pond.  I  nearly  went  mad. 
Talk  about  rest!  I  never  could  see  any  rest  sit 
ting  still  and  looking  at  water.  If  it  hadn't  been 
for  you  being  out  here,  I  would  have  gone  back 
from  Honolulu.  Think  of  not  seeing  your  own 
newspaper  for  a  month!  But  I  did  the  best  I 
could.  I  bought  two  barrels  of  firecrackers  at 
Honolulu,  and  I  used  to  throw  them  from  the 
stern  of  the  steamer,  just  to  get  some  kind  of 
action  and  break  the  monotony.  I  used  to  go 
down  and  sit  in  the  engine-room  when  it  wasn't 
too  hot  and  imagine  it  was  the  pressroom  and  feel 
quite  at  home.  Then  I  started  a  paper  aboard 
the  ship — editorials,  ads,  interviews — got  up  mock 
trials,  games,  races,  pools,  knew  everybody  from 
the  missionaries  and  the  card-sharpers  to  an  earl, 
and  I  did  manage  to  live  through  that  deadly 
voyage." 

"  And  others  of  our  friends?  "  Big  asked. 

"  Well,  John  Byng's  not  our  friend  exactly, 
though  we  have  had  a  good  deal  to  do  with  him. 
He's  trying  the  new  game  of  journalism  because 
he  thinks  it  pays.  The  Courier  reminds  me  of  a 


WILLY  AS  A  TRAVELER  451 

peroxide  blonde,  whose  hair  hasn't  been  touched 
up  for  three  months." 

"  And  Hiram  Hobber?  "  For  the  Big  Fellow 
had  a  very  warm  place  in  his  heart  for  Hiram. 

"  I  had  him  out  in  the  machine,  too,"  said 
Willy.  "  He's  getting  into  politics  a  good  deal. 
I  think  he'll  control  the  delegates  from  his  dis 
trict  to  the  next  State  convention — but  that's  his 
business  and  mine."  Then  Willy  grew  serious. 
"  How  much  longer  is  it  going  to  take  you?  "  he 
asked;  but  without  waiting  for  answer  he  pro 
ceeded.  "  Big,  this  trip  has  converted  me.  I 
used  to  think  that  the  world  was  pretty  large,  but 
I  had  to  travel  only  half-way  around  it  to  find  that 
it  is  all  taken  up  and  the  chances  of  annexing  an 
other  planet  are  poor  at  the  present  lookout.  If 
it's  grown  so  small  in  the  last  century,  what  of 
the  next!  Why,  we're  going  to  be  crowded  and 
glad  of  anything  as  big  as  a  city  lot.  We  haven't 
any  selfish  interests  except  to  spread  our  ideas 
and  to  keep  a  coaling  station;  but  if  we  get  too 
intent  at  home,  maybe  one  day  when  we  want  this 
harbor,  far  from  Bolton  and  the  home  plate,  we'll 
find  it  is  not  to  be  had.  And  now  I  know  what 
a  great  problem  you  have  and  that  you  are  the 
man  for  it  and  it  was  right  for  you  to  come — but 
not  for  you  to  stay !  No,  sir !  ' ' 

"  Willy!  You  do  bring  a  message  of  cheer 
when  I  most  needed  it,  and,  like  a  good  reporter, 
you  are  on  hand  for  the  crisis." 

Then  the  Big  Fellow  took  Willy  entirely  into 
his  confidence,  while  Willy,  who  could  be  a  good 


452  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

listener,  grasped  the  situation  point  by  point  with 
the  liveliest  interest.  Something  was  going  to 
happen,  something  new  to  him,  and  so  he  had  an 
other  reason  for  being  glad  that  he  was  present. 
For  the  bands  unmolested  by  the  garrisons  were 
closing  in.  Benito  had  become  a  scout,  tireless, 
active,  sly,  clear-eyed,  confident  in  that  trick  of 
accurate  shooting  which  he  had  learned  from 
Staton  and  Clancy.  Scores  of  other  trusted  na 
tives  were  going  and  coming  through  the  jungle, 
bringing  word  of  the  enemy's  plan  and  advances, 
while  Staton  kept  moving  in  the  pins  toward 
Takar  on  his  map. 

"  Steel  Fingers  isn't  missing  any  cards,''  said 
Willy,  the  next  day;  for  it  took  him  only  a  few 
hours  to  know  everybody  in  town.  "  He's  '+100 
soldier,  all  right.  And  I'd  hate  to  be  in  Parko- 
witz's  shoes.  In  fact,  I'd  as  soon  be  Byng  as 
Parkowitz.  Steel  Fingers  has  something  on  that 
shady  gentleman,  all  right,  and  Parkowitz  is 
under  surveillance  and  he'll  not  leave  this  town 
till  the  General  says  he  may  go." 

"  I  didn't  know  this,"  said  the  Governor, 
thoughtfully. 

Willy  was  setting  the  house  afire  again. 

11  Now,  hold  on!  You  don't  know  it!  "  he  in 
sisted.  "  You  aren't  going  to  begin  to  talk  evi 
dence  and  personal  rights  and  trial.  Parkowitz 
is  the  General's  business.  The  trouble  with  you, 
Big,  is  you're  too  soft-hearted.  You've  got  a 
big,  armor-steel  backbone,  but  you  let  people  prod 
around  behind  your  back  in  the  dark  with  knives 


WILLY  AS  A  TRAVELER  453 

before  they  find  it.  For  a  job  of  this  kind  you 
ought  to  throw  out  a  buttress  to  it  or  put  up  a 
sign  of  warning : '  Don't  jab !  If  you  hit  my  back 
bone  you'll  find  it's  a  third  rail!  '  " 

"  Well,  Staton  hasn't  told  me  and  he  is  usu 
ally  very  frank, ' '  the  Governor  admitted ;  ' t  and  in 
a  time  like  this  I'll  not  bother  him  with  details." 

61  Now,  that  constabulary,"  pursued  the  repor- 
torial  mind.  "  Isn't  it  pretty  ticklish  having  two 
hundred  armed  natives  who  have  only  had  a  few 
months'  drill  right  in  the  heart  of  this  town, 
when  the  garrison  is  so  small  and  the  enemy  is 
getting  all  around  us!  " 

"  It 's  an  experiment.  To  disarm  them,  as  some 
timid  ones  say  we  ought,  is  to  fly  in  the  face  of 
our  policy.  I'll  not  do  that!  "  explained  the  Gov 
ernor,  decidedly;  for  this  prod  had  reached  his 
backbone. 

11  Here,  Big,  this  is  your  busy  day.  I'm  only 
a  tourist.  The  wonder  is  you  don't  throw  me 
out."  And  Willy  went  to  see  the  officers  of  the 
constabulary,  for  he  had  an  idea  that  some  of 
the  forthcoming  explosions  would  come  from  this 
quarter. 

But  no  guest  was  ever  more  welcome  to  a  pre 
occupied  host  than  Willy,  and  from  Willy  in  an 
unexpected  way  he  had  another  warning,  which 
he  needed,  he  assured  himself,  to  re-inter  an  old 
hope  reborn  which  he  had  been  nourishing.  It 
happened  that  he  and  Willy  were  looking  out  of 
the  office  at  Clancy  and  Ellen,  who  had  just  de 
parted  after  tiffin  at  the  Palace. 


454  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  There's  a  pair!  "  said  Willy.  "  A  pair  of 
an  age,  of  a  spirit  alike!  Anybody  can  see  that 
he  is  completely  gone. ' ' 

They  watched  a  pantomime  in  which  Clancy 
was  evidently  asking  to  carry  her  parasol,  while 
she  was  refusing. 

"He  wins!  "  said  Willy. 

She  gave  Clancy  the  parasol,  whereon  he  began 
to  walk  backwards  springily  on  his  tiptoes,  with 
the  graces  and  genuflections  of  a  spellbound 
minion  of  royalty. 

"  Now  she'll  make  him  stop  that.  I  wonder 
how!  "  Willy  was  all  interest,  of  course. 

Ellen  took  hold  of  the  handle.  Argument  en 
sued.  A  compromise  was  effected  and  they  walked 
on  together,  with  Clancy  behaving  himself. 

"  It  will  be  a  match,  and  so  it  ought,"  said 
Willy.  "  Funny  neither  of  us  ever  fell  in  love, 
Big.  But  this  romance  business  isn't  for  us.  I've 
been  too  busy  with  the  paper  and  you  with  the 
law  and  the  light,  and  we're  too  old  for  it,  now. 
We're  bachelors  for  good,  and  when  we  arrive  at 
our  allotted  threescore  and  ten  may  we  be  as 
mellow  as  Uncle  Theodore  and  find  solace  in 
'  Araminta's  Hope.'  But  we  don't  need  to  be 
that  old  not  to  want  any  young  hearts  broken, 
especially  such  glad  hearts  as  Ellen's  and 
Clancy's." 

' i  What  a  talker  you  are,  Willy,  bless  you !  Yes, 
we  are  meant  for  bachelors,  no  donbt,"  said  the 
Big  Fellow;  and  seated  himself  for  the  afternoon 
grind. 


WILLY  AS  A  TRAVELER  455 

It  was  the  next  evening,  unusually  hot  and  sul 
try,  with  the  bands  closing  in  and  the  news  not  of 
the  best,  that  word  came  of  a  little  combat  up 
the  river  between  the  Paktowan  and  the  insur 
gents.  So  near  was  it  that  the  rattle  of  the  Colt's 
had  been  audible  at  the  Palace. 

This  was  the  one  thing  the  Governor  did  not 
want  to  happen  and  against  which  he  had  re 
peatedly  cautioned  the  Lord  High  Admiral.  Yes, 
Clancy  was  a  trifle  too  quick,  as  he  and  the  Gen 
eral  agreed  at  dinner,  and  accordingly  they  sent 
for  him. 

Mrs.  Staton  and  Ellen  were  sitting  on  the  steps, 
while  the  General  and  the  Governor  were  going 
over  some  reports,  the  General  insistent  that  he 
must  have  a  free  hand  to  strike  hard  at  the  right 
moment,  without  any  delay  for  diplomacy,  when 
Clancy  came,  with  his  light  step,  his  face  aglow, 
pleased  with  the  way  his  men  had  borne  them 
selves  in  that  brief  exchange  of  shots  which  put 
forty  insurgents  to  flight. 

"  Hello,  Ellen !"  He  spoke  to  her  first.  "Good- 
evening,  Mrs.  Staton.  Good-evening,  Governor. 
General,  you  ought  to  have  seen  'em  skedaddle! 
Governor,  you  sent  for  me?  " 

It  was  exasperating  to  the  Governor  that 
Clancy  was  triumphant,  as  if  he  had  done  some 
thing  creditable  rather  than  something  plainly 
in  disobedience  of  orders;  and  the  Governor  was 
pretty  tired  that  evening.  The  drag  of  the  cli 
mate  would  not  allow  him  to  recover  his  strength. 
Such  errors  as  this  of  the  Lord  High  Admiral's 


456  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

were  dashing  his  hopes  of  a  peaceful  outcome  of 
the  crisis. 

"  Clancy/'  he  said,  rather  impatiently,  "I'm 
afraid  if  you  are  going  to  make  mischief  of  this 
kind  you  will  not  be  of  much  assistance  in  this 
crisis." 

The  Lord  High  Admiral  turned  white  with 
anger,  which  he  must  suppress,  for  in  the  navy 
you  may  not  talk  back  to  your  superiors. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  he  said. 

He  saluted  the  General,  and  said  good-night  to 
Mrs.  Staton  and  "  Good-night,  Ellen,"  lingering 
a  little  on  the  last  word,  and  started  away,  still 
with  the  light  step  and  head  high,  thinking  that  he 
was  repudiated,  that  he  would  miss  the  coming 
fight  and  that  he  might  lose  his  beloved  Paktowan 
and  be  sent  to  do  watch  duty  on  some  third-rate 
cruiser.  Yes,  he  would  report  back  to  the  Admiral 
immediately,  he  told  himself,  in  his  rage.  But,  in 
that  event,  as  he  suddenly  realized,  he  might  not 
see  Bar  or  Ellen  again.  So  he  took  the  barracks 
side  of  the  square  in  going.  He  would  say  his 
farewells  to  the  officers  and  wait  on  the  Statons' 
porch  until  Ellen  returned  home. 

She  had  looked  after  him  and  then  up  at  the 
Governor  uncomprehendingly,  in  the  silence  that 
followed  his  departure. 

"  Big!  "  she  said.  "  You,  of  all  men,  to  sen 
tence  Clancy  without  trial,  without  listening,  as  if 
you  were  some  old  martinet  of  a  colonel !  ' ' 

He  knew  that  he  was  convicted. 

"  This  was  the  time  you  played  Portia,  Two 


WILLY  AS  A  TRAVELER  457 

Braids/'  he  returned.  "  I  am  ashamed  of  my 
self.  "  And  he  sent  a  servant  to  ask  Clancy  to 
return. 

"  After  all  he  has  done  so  cheerfully,  day  and 
night/ '  she  continued,  "to  send  him  away  when 
the  big  fight  is  coming!  Didn't  you  know  that 
they  fired  on  him?  Didn't  you  know  he  had  been 
wounded?  " 

"No!  Was  he?  Well,  I  am  a  brute !  And  he 
rescued  you,  Two  Braids.  I  even  forgot  that.  I 
must  be  losing  all  sense  of  gratitude." 

He  rose  and  ran  down  the  steps  to  meet  Clancy, 
who  came  back  light  of  step  and  head  high,  ready 
for  anything. 

"  Governors  get  tired  and  peevish  like  other 
people,"  Big  said.  "  Which  arm  is  it?  " 

But  he  could  see  for  himself.  Though  Clancy 
had  put  on  a  fresh  blouse,  a  small  red  spot 
showed  through  his  left  sleeve  from  the  soaked 
bandage. 

"  Tired, but  not  peevish — never!  "  rejoined  the 
Lord  High  Admiral.  "I'm  used  to  worse  than 
that  from  the  sundowners  we  suffer  in  the  navy; 
but  it  did  hurt  from  you,  uncommonly.  I've  tried 
to  be  so  careful,  too,  knowing  what  a  tempfation 
a  Colt's  is.  I  only  went  after  some  information, 
and  when  we  got  a  blast  I  did  return  fire." 

"  Always  do  that,"  said  the  Governor.  "  What 
is  the  navy  for?  It  isn't  a  traveling  target. 
We're  going  to  keep  you  and  the  Pakky  with  us 
to  eiijoy  the  blessings  of  peace." 

Clancy  made  one  of  the  group  and  merrily 


458  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

described  the  "  terrible  conflict  of  Mango  Bend," 
as  he  laughingly  called  it. 

"  But  now  I'm  not  going  to  do  what  we  did 
the  other  night, "  Ellen  told  him,  as  they  started 
to  go.  "  You  saw  me  home  and  then  you  said, 
'  Let's  walk  back  to  the  Pdktowan,9  and  then  you 
had  to  see  me  home  again — and  there 'd  be  no  end 
to  it!  Good-night,  Big!  You'll  win.  We'll  bag 
them  all  yet,  without  any  killing." 

She  did  have  that  last  kindly  word  for  him, 
the  Big  Fellow  thought. 


XLI 

THE   FIGHT 

PAEDO  was  the  worst  of  the  insurgent  lead 
ers,  combining  in  a  strong  type  all  the 
fiercest  and  most  cunning  traits  of  the 
Tongals.  A  brigand,  of  brigands  born,  and  young, 
this  Robin  Hood  without  a  Robin  Hood's  chiv 
alry  would  have  in  his  band  no  one  who  had 
known  the  softening  life  of  industry.  His  choice 
of  principles  was  a  choice  of  villages  to  plunder ; 
his  choice  of  occupation  a  career  of  magic  prow 
ess.  The  natives  told  stories  of  bullets  fired  point- 
blank  at  him  that  failed  to  kill.  He  boasted  of  a 
charmed  life  and  of  a  priest's  finger  for  a  talis 
man.  Bravery  and  will,  besides,  he  had  and  dis 
cipline  over  his  men. 

Although  Campo,  the  insurgent  commander-in- 
chief,  had  never  been  able  to  control  Pardo, 
Cortina  won  his  cooperation  by  promising  him  the 
loot  of  the  capital.  On  a  momentous  afternoon  in 
this  chronicle  his  band  drove  Staton's  outpost  off 
the  round  hill  on  the  shore  to  the  east  of  Takar, 
scarcely  more  than  two  miles  from  the  outskirts  of 
the  town.  Staton  had  meant  to  evacuate  this  hill 
as  part  of  a  plan  to  give  the  bands  confidence  and 
draw  them  in;  but  he  was  not  pleased  to  find  so 

459 


460  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

ardent  an  enemy  as  Pardo  in  occupation  in  such 
numbers. 

There  would  be  hot  work  on  the  morrow,  as 
everybody  knew;  and  yet  no  one  had  any  doubt 
of  the  safety  of  the  capital.  The  measure  of  suc 
cess  and  the  amount  of  life  it  would  cost  were 
the  only  questions,  unless  the  constabulary  should 
prove  disloyal.  No  one  of  their  officers  thought 
they  would,  least  of  all  their  Captain ;  yet,  no  one 
was  certain.  Stubbornly  the  Big  Fellow  believed 
in  his  constabs;  stubbornly  he  held  to  his  hope 
that  the  crisis  could  be  settled  by  diplomacy. 

"  When  you  are  ready  to  strike, "  he  had  kept 
telling  the  General,  "  we  will  send  a  white  flag 
and  I  will  talk  to  Cortina  and  Campo  and  all  the 
leaders. " 

The  General  nodded  and  said  they  must  wait  on 
events.  He  had  no  idea  that  the  interview  would 
ever  be  possible. 

"  There  is  your  chance,"  said  the  Governor, 
in  an  impulse  of  great  elation  as  soon  as  he  heard 
that  it  was  Pardo 's  men  who  had  occupied  Bound 
Hill.  "  Take  the  hill  with  the  constabulary!  " 

"  You  mean  this  in  all  seriousness!  "  Staton 
asked. 

"  I  do!  "  he  answered,  thinking  of  his  policy 
as  he  always  was.  "  No  native  troops  could  have 
a  fairer  test.  They  are  not  asked  to  go  against 
natives  who  fight  for  patriotism  or  independence, 
as  they  understand  it.  We  send  them  to  the  work 
for  which  they  are  intended  as  the  future  police  of 
the  country.  There  is  not  a  man  among  them 


THE  FIGHT  461 

whose  family  or  whose  relatives,  as  I  know,  at 
some  time  or  other  have  not  felt  the  hand  of 
Pardo." 

"  Yes,  but  to  put  them  in  a  charge  when  they 
have  never  had  their  baptism  of  fire,  when  they 
believe  Pardo  invulnerable!  That's  no  way  to 
do  with  green  troops,  Governor,"  the  General 
demurred. 

1  i  The  best  way  with  these !  Let  them  win  and 
they  win  for  their  own  people,  for  law  and  order 
and  the  protection  of  property.  The  natives  them 
selves  with  their  own  arms  will  have  beaten  the 
thief  and  murderer  with  the  charmed  life.  They 
will  have  smashed  the  fetich. " 

"  It  does  separate  the  wolves  from  the  sheep, 
Governor,  you  are  right.  I  begin  to  think  you 
have  more  nerve  than  I.  You  would  send  them 
with  no  white  troops  for  stiffening?  " 

"  Yes,  only  their  officers." 

And  Staton,  surveying  the  immovable,  tower 
ing  Big  Fellow,  thought  that  he  had  not  really 
understood  him  until  that  moment. 

"  This  is  in  my  department,  you  know,"  he 
reminded  the  Governor,  with  a  straightening  of 
the  shoulders  and  drawing  in  of  his  brows,  as 
if  he  had  caught  himself  being  borne  to  the  wall 
by  a  stronger  man. 

"  I  know  it  is,"  was  the  rejoinder.  "  I  make 
a  suggestion  and  give  my  reasons,  which  I  think 
are  good." 

Staton  thought  that  the  Governor  was  sitting 
closer  to  him,  though  he  had  not  moved,  and  all 


462  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

the  time  they  had  been  looking  into  each  other's 
eyes  unflinchingly. 

"  I  will  do  this  on  one  condition,"  he  concluded. 
6 '  But,  first,  do  you  realize  that  Smith  and  his  men 
will  go  against  superior  numbers  intrenched?  ' 

"  Yes.  All  right.  So  much  the  better  if  they 
win." 

"  On  one  condition:  If  they  do  not  get  the  hill 
with  the  first  charge  at  daylight,  you  are  not  to 
expect  any  palaver  business,  for  then  I  cannot 
afford  to  lose  a  single  minute.  If  the  constabs 
win,  we'll  try  the  white  flag." 

"  Very  good.  I'll  take  the  risk,  Staton," 
the  Governor  answered,  pleasantly.  "  That's  a 
bargain." 

It  was  great  news,  this,  for  the  quick  Clancy. 
He  was  going  with  the  Paktowan,  under  cover  of 
the  darkness,  to  a  bayou  which  he  had  sounded 
and  surveyed  long  ago  in  his  foreseeing  way, 
"  for  you  can  never  tell  when  there  might  be  a 
i  scrap  '  and  then  there  wouldn't  be  any  time 
to  explore, "  as  he  said.  It  was  great  news  to  the 
late  Sergeant  Smith,  who  said  his  "  brown  boys 
would  go  to  it  like  chickens  after  corn."  Ellen, 
who  knew  a  little  of  the  native  language,  went 
among  the  men  and  encouraged  them. 

"  You'll  show  the  world  that  Pardo  does  not 
lead  a  charmed  life,"  was  the  cheering  word  of 
the  Charming  Lady. 

That  was  the  burden  of  W.  W.'s  talk,  the  chap 
lain's,  and  Willy  Sweetser's;  of  the  Governor's 
and  the  General's  when,  at  midnight,  the  con- 


THE  FIGHT  463 

stabulary  were  drawn  up  in  front  of  their  bar 
racks  before  they  marched  out  with  the  career 
of  big  Jim  Harden  of  '88  in  their  keeping  and 
with  the  words  of  His  Bigness  and  the  impression 
of  his  strength  in  their  minds. 

"  Yes,  I'll  let  you  have  a  rifle,  Mr.  Sweetser, 
but  don't  you  fire  until  the  others  fire.  If  you 

should — if  you  should "  Captain  Smith  did 

not  say  what  he  would  do  to  the  owner  of  The 
Sentinel  building,  but  from  his  aspect  he  must 
have  had  something  pretty  savage  in  mind. 

"  No,  sir,  I'll  not!  "  said  Willy,  boyishly,  salut 
ing  with  mock  gravity. 

"  And  no  talking  and  no  noise,"  Smith  cau 
tioned.  "  The  chaplain  and  W.  W.  there  know 
how  to  do  this  jungle-creep  act  and  can  look  out 
for  themselves, ' ' — for,  of  course,  both  were  along, 
— "  but  I'll  keep  you  near  me." 

"  Yes,  sir,  I  want  to  be  perfectly  correct," 
Willy  affirmed,  "  and  I'll  do  just  what  you  do, 
even  to  falling  over  a  log,  stubbing  my  toe,  swear 
ing,  or  getting  drowned." 

66  You'll  pass,  I  guess,"  Smith  concluded,  "  and, 
between  you  and  me,  if  we  pull  this  off  I'll  be  the 
happiest  doughboy  that  ever  kneaded  the  mud. 
They're  mine,  the  brown  faces,  and  it's  me  that's 
drilled  and  coaxed  and  damned  'em  and  sat  up 
nights  with  'em  and  blistered  my  nose  by  day  for 
'em,  swelling  my  liver  and  sweating  off  my  flesh, 
and  now  I'm  to  see  whether  they're  mush  or 
men. ' ' 

Doubt  existed  even  in  Smith's  mind,  though 


464  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

he  bore  himself  with  a  josslike  confidence  that 
would  have  made  him  a  good  manager  of  a  politi 
cal  campaign.  It  was  a  gamble  in  psychology,  a 
cry  to  Fate,  taking  these  two  hundred  untried 
Tongals  through  the  underbrush,  where  each  man 
had  to  find  his  own  way,  with  only  their  white 
officers  to  steady  them  and  the  chaplain  and  W. 
W.,  who  counted  for  much,  and  Willy,  burning 
with  curiosity  to  know  how  it  would  feel  to  be 
shot  at.  That  young  American  mining  engineer, 
Thompson,  and  the  young  Australian,  Horswell, 
of  course  were  along.  You  could  no  more  have 
kept  them  out  of  it  than  you  could  Willy.  But 
Parkowitz  was  not  coming.  He  had  an  engage 
ment  with  a  sentry  who  sat  outside  his  door. 

There  is  something  else  that  ought  to  be  told 
before  the  tale  proceeds  any  further.  After  the 
Governor  and  the  General  had  watched  the  con- 
stabs  march  away,  the  Governor  said,  in  that 
quiet  manner  in  which  men  of  the  northern  races 
may  speak  on  a  life-and-death  occasion: 

"  I  don't  think  I  can  keep  out." 

"  Nor  I,"  was  the  answer.  "I'll  call  at  the 
Palace  about  three.  Shall  I!  " 

"  Very  good." 

That  was  all  for  the  present. 

At  two  o'clock  Willy,  who  had  been  crawling 
along  a  mucky  stream-bed,  was  up  on  the  bank 
beside  Smith,  and  in  the  faint  moonlight  they 
could  see  the  hill's  outline.  They  were  wet  to 


THE  FIGHT  465 

the  skin,  with  hands  and  faces  cut  by  the  thorns. 
But  Willy  is  the  one  to  tell  this  story.  It  was  his 
first  experience  under  fire,  and  no  battle  in  after 
years  ever  equals  a  man's  first  skirmish. 

"  This  glory  business  is  like  most  other  busi 
nesses,"  he  said.  "  The  fellows  who  work  win. 
I  used  to  think  you  marched  out  and  deployed  and 
the  band  played  and  you  cheered  and  everybody  on 
both  sides  struck  an  attitude,  had  their  pictures 
taken,  cheered  and  then  charged,  waving  the  flag, 
and  then  cheered  some  more.  I  was  about  as 
much  onto  the  game  as  a  spring  poet  is  onto  run 
ning  a  newspaper. 

' l  Why,  we  went  at  it  like  a  lot  of  house-break 
ers  and  second-story  climbers.  We  knew  they 
kept  the  bulldog  in  the  kitchen  and  the  man  of 
the  family  was  in  the  second  floor  back  over  the 
dining-room,  where  the  silver  was,  and  he  was  a 
light  sleeper.  There  wasn't  any  moving-picture 
heroics  in  doing  a  mile  or  more  on  your  belly 
among  thorns,  snakes,  and  lizards  and  taking  care 
not  to  make  the  snakes  hurry  away  too  fast  for 
fear  of  waking  the  dog.  And  Smith  was  playing 
in  this  underhand  way — Smith  who  would  not 
play  a  foul  to  beat  a  man  at  any  game !  But  war 
isn't  a  sport. 

"  You  couldn't  hold  any  conversation  or  swear 
when  thorns  cut.  Wet?  You  try  working  your 
way  through  dewy  grass.  It's  the  first  time  I 
ever  knew  you  could  keep  on  getting  wet  through 
after  you  were  wet  through. 

4 '  When  we  got  up  on  that  bank  and  Smith 


4C6  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

stopped  and  I  stopped,  we  couldn't  see  more  than 
four  or  five  men  around  us.  How'd  we  know 
whether  anybody  else  was  along?  I  wanted  to 
ask  a  million  questions,  more  or  less,  and  couldn't 
ask  one.  My  whole  business  in  life  was  to  keep 
still.  Lie  on  a  cold  sponge  for  a  while  on  a  hot 
day  and  you'll  know  how  I  felt  on  that  moist 
ground.  Can  the  tropics  be  cold?  There's  noth 
ing  mean  the  tropics  can't  be. 

"  For  the  first  time  in  years  I  wanted  cigar 
ettes  by  the  box.  Now  I  know  why  soldiers  would 
rather  go  hungry  than  without  tobacco.  I  did 
have  a  cigar  and  I  was  about  to  light  it  when 
it  occurred  to  me  that  Smith  would  kill  me  if  I 
struck  a  light — and  the  matches  were  wet,  anyway. 

"  '  This  is  a  pretty  poor  country  for  a  low- 
geared  French  machine,'  I  thought,  to  be  cheer 
ful,  and  found  I'd  said  it  aloud  and  Smith 
punched  me. 

' '  I  wondered  what  I  would  do  when  the  bullets 
began  coming.  Would  I  run?  Would  I  yell? 
What  about  these  manikins  of  the  constab? 
Were  they  as  hungry  as  I  was?  Were  they  as 
shivery?  It's  all  right  charging  when  the  band 
is  playing  and  you  feel  gay;  but  with  their  legs 
stiff  from  cold,  would  they  just  rush  up  that  hill 
on  empty  stomachs  for  the  pleasure  of  being 
shot  at? 

'  i  Then  I  remember — and  you  can  tell  only  what 
you  remember — Smith  said,  aloud,  '  Now  we 
shan't  be  long!  '  They  say  that's  been  said  thou 
sands  of  times  on  such  mornings.  Now  we  shan't 


THE  FIGHT  467 

be  long  till  we  know  which  of  us  is  to  be  killed ! 
Some  men  say  it  with  a  laugh,  some  solemnly, 
some  cynically,  and  I  could  see  for  myself  that 
we  shouldn't  be  so  very  long.  The  equator  had 
pulled  up  the  curtain  of  night  as  if  the  spring 
roller  had  flown  out  of  hand.  That  tropical  sun 
rises  like  the  clang  of  cymbals. 

"  My  recollection  of  the  first  thing  I  saw  was 
the  dewdrops  frosting  my  rifle  barrel  which  lay 
beside  me.  Then  I  noticed  that  all  the  hemp 
in  the  clearing  had  been  cut.  Pardo  had  done 
that  in  the  early  evening  so  as  to  have  a  free  field 
of  fire  at  us  when  we  charged.  It  was  pretty 
clever  of  him,  but  I  didn't  admire  that  kind  of 
cleverness  much  at  the  time. 

1  i  Then,  boom !  a  three-pounder  came  from  over 
to  the  left,  followed  by  a  sound  like  tearing  can 
vas — the  Colt's  automatic  with  its  spatter  of  bul 
lets!  Yes,  there  she  was,  the  Paktowan!  What 
do  you  think  that  quick  Clancy  had  done?  He'd 
pushed  her  in  overnight  through  the  bushes  right 
up  to  within  fifty  yards  of  Pardo 's  trench!  As 
he  swung  that  rapid-fire  gun  back  and  forth,  the 
way  he  was  spraying  the  heads  of  the  peonies  on 
top  of  that  trench  was  beautiful.  Never  anything 
looked  so  good  to  me  as  she  did. 

"  Next  I  knew  I  had  troubles  of  my  own.  Zip 
—something  went  by !  Zip — something  else  went 
by!  And  what  did  I  do?  Oh,  I  must  have  been 
funny!  I  put  up  my  hands  to  stop  them,  as 
though  they  were  hornets.  Bullets,  I  thought, 
of  course!  like  recalling  in  a  flash  the  name  to 


468  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

go  with  the  face  of  a  man  I  had  passed  in  the 
street. 

"  There  was  Smith  right  alongside  me,  lean  as 
a  hound,  with  his  thin,  peaked,  tanned  face  and 
high  cheekbones  and  sharp  nose.  But  he  was 
standing  and  all  the  other  officers  were,  and  look 
ing  at  that  hill  like  they  had  photographers'  rods 
down  their  backs  to  hold  them  in  position. 

"  I  got  up  on  my  knee,  though  I  didn't  particu 
larly  want  to,  but  I  was  an  American  and  I  wasn't 
going  to  be  out  of  style,  anyway.  Then  we  began 
firing.  I  looked  along  the  line  and  there  they  were 
— all  the  constabs  in  position  just  on  the  edge  of 
the  hemp  field.  How'd  they  ever  got  there?  I 
tell  you  I  admired  Smith  and  Staton  for  that. 
They  had  mapped  and  scouted  and  mapped  and 
scouted,  and  Smith  had  been  putting  that  bunch 
through  every  bit  of  jungle  in  the  neighborhood 
at  night  to  get  them  bush-wise.  Talk  about  your 
glory  business — it's  work  that  counts ! 

i '  Suddenly  I  realized  I  had  a  rifle  and  I  wanted 
to  fire,  and  I  dropped  down  and  it's  funny  how 
cool  I  was.  I  just  kept  plugging  away  at  heads 
on  the  top  of  the  trench,  like  an  honest  man  try 
ing  to  make  a  good  score,  till  the  bugle  sounded 
'  Cease!  '  Then  I  got  back  on  the  job  as  a 
reporter. 

"  I  looked  along  the  line  again  and  saw  Big 
and  Staton  were  with  us,  both  standing  like  the 
officers,  making  altogether  a  line  of  ribs  of  white 
men  back  of  the  constabs.  The  Governor  ought 
not  to  have  been  there.  The  General  oughtn't. 


THE  FIGHT  469 

They  knew  they  oughtn't,  and  they  were  ashamed 
of  themselves  for  their  dereliction  of  duty  after 
ward.  What  if  they  should  be  killed?  Who  was 
going  to  run  things  then!  I  was  crazy  mad  and 
started  toward  old  Big,  calling  to  him  to  lie  down, 
and  then  I  heard  him  speak,  just  as  the  Colt's 
stopped  its  music  in  a  way  that  made  you  think 
someone  at  the  gun  had  been  struck. 

"  '  Get  in!  '  Big  said.  '  They're  putting  all 
their  fire  on  to  Clancy !  ' 

* '  '  Get  in !  '  said  the  General,  and  his  sandstone 
face  was  fine.  It  was  smiling — just  smiling.  So 
was  Big's.  That  pair  had  a  look  that  would  make 
a  rainbow  think  it  could  pierce  armor. 

"  <  Get  in!  '  said  Smith. 

"  They  all  had  the  same  thought  at  once.  The 
bugle  sounded  the  charge.  It  was  then  I  found 
out  that  up  to  that  minute  I  had  been  a  slow 
old,  two-mile-an-hour  thinker.  I  became  an  ex 
press.  Maybe  I  would  be  killed!  Would  I  ever 
dine  at  Jerry's  again?  And  if  I  was  killed,  what 
would  my  old  father  in  his  country  pastorate  do 
with  The  Sentinel?  Circulation  wouldn't  boom 
much,  I  knew. 

"  Yes,  I  gave  the  three-hundredth  part  of  a 
second  to  that,  but  it  was  as  clear  as  if  I  had  been 
doping  it  out  for  a  week  on  a  typewriter.  I 
moved,  too,  while  I  thought.  I  didn't  propose  to 
be  left  behind.  Now  don't  think  I'm  brave. 
'Twasn't  that.  It  was  like  boys  scrambling  for 
a  nickel.  But  if  I'd  been  told  Smith's  plan  be 
fore,  I'd  have  gone  all  of  a  shiver. 


470  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  He  wasn't  going  to  urge  the  natives  in.  He 
was  going  to  lead  them.  He  and  his  officers  had 
stood  up  to  show  the  constabs  that  there  was  no 
reason  in  being  afraid  of  Pardo.  Now  they  were 
going  to  show  the  constabs  how  easy  it  was  to 
lick  him.  It  was  their  talisman  against  Pardo 's 
talisman.  Do  you  see  that? 

"  Wei],  we  sprang  ahead  of  the  line.  And  what 
if  the  constabs  didn't  follow?  Big,  Staton,  the 
chaplain,  W.  W.,  Thompson,  Horswell,  Smith  and 
his  six  officers,  and  yours  truly  were  going  into 
that  trench  alone.  As  we  rose  I  heard  the  men 
calling,  '  For  the  Governor !  For  Bar !  '  That 
was  the  only  thing  that  was  like  the  war  I'd  been 
brought  up  on  in  the  story-books.  It  was  so  un 
real  I  felt  like  blue-penciling  it.  And  what  gave 
us  all  heart  just  as  we  started  was  the  Paktowan's 
hose  breaking  loose  again  to  keep  some  of  the 
bullets  off  us.  Clancy  was  at  the  Colt's  himself 
that  time — as  we  learned  afterward. 

"  Henceforth,  I'll  believe  every  man  that  says 
he  was  the  first  up  San  Juan  Hill.  Let  the  So 
ciety  of  the  First  flourish,  say  I.  They're  all 
entitled  to  membership.  I  was  the  first  up  Round 
Hill.  So  were  all  the  others.  How  could  I  help 
being?  Wasn't  I  running  five  times  as  fast  as 
I  ever  ran  before  and  arriving  with  my  head  and 
eyes  before  my  feet  did?  Why,  skidding  down 
an  incline  toward  a  river  embankment  when  the 
brakes  don't  work  is  just  a  dash  of  cologne  water 
from  the  atomizer  to  this  high  dive  of  doing  two 
hundred  yards  over  slippery  hemp  leaves  to  get 


THE  FIGHT  471 

after  that  fellow  in  the  trench  who 's  trying  to  kill 
you — and  I  guess  they  would  have  killed  most  of 
us  if  it  hadn't  been  for  the  Paktowan. 

"  But  you  did  glance  away  from  the  front  to 
the  right  and  left  to  see  if  anybody  was  beating 
you  into  that  trench  and  you  glanced  back,  with 
your  heart  palpitating  somewhere  near  the  top 
of  your  head,  to  see  if  the  constabs  had  stopped, 
knowing  you  had  to  go  on,  anyway,  and  you  could 
not  retreat,  and  your  heart  settled  back  into  place 
a-singing  as  you  saw  that  they  were  coming.  They 
couldn't  do  it  quite  right,  of  course.  They  were 
bunching  around  the  Governor  and  the  General, 
and  I  guess  that  was  a  good  thing,  because  it  was 
just  like  old  Big  to  come  out  without  any  revolver 
and  to  have  to  snatch  a  rifle  from  one  of  the 
gugus  before  he  had  anything  to  fight  with. 

"  Father  Tim  was  bareheaded,  with  the  sun 
on  his  white  forehead,  and  looking  like  he  was 
saying:  *  The  water's  fine!  Come  on  in!  '  And 
W.  W. — well,  he's  in  the  Society  of  the  First  up 
Eound  Hill  if  anyone  is.  His  legs  were  making 
wonderful  time,  for  they  hadn't  so  much  to  carry, 
and  his  lips  were  moving  and  his  eyes  bright,  and 
I  guess  he  was  singing  a  hymn  of  praise  about  the 
valiant  soldiers  of  the  Word,  or  something  like 
that. 

"  I  had  them  in  a  lightning  flash,  the  kind  of 
flash  that  chisels  out  little  details  that  you  always 
remember,  and  the  last  impression  out  of  the  cor 
ner  of  my  eye,  as  I  turned  my  head,  was  that  W. 
"W.  threw  up  his  hands  at  the  same  time  that  some- 


472  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

thing  went  by  my  ear  so  close  it  whistled.  That 
little  man  with  the  rifle  in  the  trench  right  in  front 
of  me  was  going  to  be  mine  or  I  his  in  a  second. 
That's  the  way  you  feel.  There's  no  courage 
in  it.  It's  just  self-preservation.  He  probably 
would  have  hit  me  if  Clancy's  spray  of  death 
hadn't  made  him  so  nervous. 

"  I  could  see  the  Colt's  bullets  cutting  the  earth 
around  him — and  then  I  did  have  a  jolt.  It  was 
as  if  a  man  who  had  saved  your  life  was  about 
to  take  it.  Would  Clancy  be  killing  his  own  folks  ? 
No!  The  hose  was  turned  off  at  the  right  mo 
ment,  and  there  I  was  on  top  of  that  brown  devil 
in  the  trench.  He  wasn't  the  only  one.  I  was  as 
busy  as  a  man  throwing  non-breakables  out  of  a 
burning  house,  till  suddenly  I  looked  into  Smith's 
face,  which  was  grinning. 

"  *  They  went  to  it  like  chickens  after  corn!  '  he 
said." 

The  ruck  of  killing  was  over;  the  victory  was 
won.  A  dark-skinned  little  man  in  red  breeches 
with  a  General's  straps  lay  among  a  pile  of  the 
bodies  of  his  band,  many  torn  by  the  three- 
pounder's  shells,  his  red  cap  at  his  side  and  his 
horrible  talisman  still  hanging  by  a  string  to  his 
neck.  It  was  a  cruel  face,  and  the  faces  around  it 
were  cruel.  Already  a  company  of  regulars  was 
marching  around  the  inner  edge  of  the  hill  to  play 
their  part  in  Staton's  plan.  Father  Tim  was  pat 
ting  the  constabs  on  the  shoulders.  In  their  ela 
tion  and  wonder  at  what  they  had  done,  they  were 


THE  FIGHT  473 

staring  at  that  magical  brigand  for  whose  invul 
nerability  a  single  bullet  had  sufficed. 

What  price  their  leaders  had  paid  to  teach  them 
the  lesson  of  confidence  and  courage  which  they 
would  not  forget,  Smith,  in  the  midst  of  the  re 
joicing,  was  the  first  to  see.  He  touched  Father 
Tim's  arm  and,  unable  to  speak,  pointed  to  a 
small  figure  in  civilian  khaki  only  a  few  yards 
from  the  trench.  Some  of  the  tracts  had  fallen 
out  of  W.  W.'s  bag  by  his  side  and  his  face,  gentle, 
wistful,  as  it  had  been  on  the  trail  when  he  asked 
if  he  didn't  do  the  boys  a  little  good,  was  up 
turned  toward  them.  His  message  had  come 
mercifully  quick.  He  lay  quite  still  where  he 
had  fallen. 

"  No  old  knight  of  the  cross  ever  fought  a  bet 
ter  or  happier  fight  than  he,"  said  Father  Tim, 
his  blue  eyes  hazy  with  tears  as  he  bent  over  W. 
W.  in  the  common  sympathy  of  the  Word  by 
whomsoever  taught. 

Those  who  had  won  now  thought  of  what  other 
sacrifices  had  been  made  that  day  in  Miss  Des 
tiny's  service  and  scanned  the  forms  on  the  hill 
side.  Two  officers  of  the  constabulary  had  fallen 
and  a  score  of  privates.  No  young  officer,  no 
sailors  had  rushed  up  from  the  Paktowan  to  see 
the  effect  of  the  shells  or  to  rejoice  with  the 
victors. 

With  fires  banked  and  the  men  poling  the  little 
gunboat  had  been  driven  under  cover  of  the 
bushes  into  the  shallow  water,  where  she  was 
left  grounded  by  the  outflowing  tide.  The  honor, 


474  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

of  the  navy  in  that  engagement  was  in  our  Lord 
High  Admiral's  keeping,  and  well  placed.  As 
they  lashed  ship  to  ship  in  the  old  days,  so  he  had 
lashed  the  Paktowan,  which  could  not  retreat, 
alongside  that  trench,  with  his  ten  rifles  and  his 
three-pounders  and  his  Colt's. 

That  quick  eye  of  Willy's  caught  a  message  of 
melancholy  from  the  movement  of  the  figures 
aboard  before  he  saw  one  of  them  put  the  flag 
at  half-mast.  He  gave  up  all  idea  of  overtaking 
Big  for  the  palaver  with  the  enemy,  which  he  now 
knew  must  follow  the  fight,  and  started  toward 
the  Paktowan  to  hear  the  news  that  he  had  in 
stinctively  guessed,  while  the  Governor  and  the 
General,  who  had  hurried  to  their  horses  at  the 
foot  of  the  hill,  were  riding  back  to  town. 


XLII 

WITHOUT   KILLING 

BUT  the  real  victory  was  yet  to  be  won.  If 
the  fight  had  to  go  on,  then  the  Big  Fellow 
was  beaten.  His  hopes  went  with  the  white 
flag  which  a  mounted  orderly  carried  by  the  main 
road  into  the  interior  toward  the  insurgent  lines, 
while  he  and  Staton  waited  on  the  outskirts  of  the 
town. 

"  The  news  of  the  annihilation  of  Pardo  and 
his  gang  will  travel  fast.  That  ought  to  be  con 
vincing,"  said  Staton. 

Directly,  having  a  soldier  for  company,  Parko- 
witz  appeared,  his  head  down,  tugging  at  his 
moustache  and  answering  their  nods  with  a  nod; 
and  this  led  the  Big  Fellow  to  look  at  Staton  ques- 
tioningly. 

"  I  think  Parkowitz  may  also  be  convincing," 
the  General  told  him. 

"  Yes,  I  may  be  of  a  little  service,  Governor," 
Parkowitz  explained,  glumly,  with  an  effort  to 
ingratiate  himself. 

"  We  will  welcome  anything — anything  to  get 
peace  without  any  more  killing, ' '  the  Governor  as 
sured  him. 

The  orderly,  who  had  disappeared  around  a 

475 


476  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

bend  in  the  road,  returned  shortly  with  a  young 
Tongal  officer  in  bright  red  trousers  and  bearing 
himself  with  a  pronouncedly  military  air. 

"  General  Cortina  and  General  Campo  send 
word  that  if  the  garrison  will  surrender  at  once," 
he  said,  saluting  most  stiffly  in  Spanish  style,  ' i  it 
will  not  be  held  as  prisoners  of  war;  and  they 
say  they  will  be  very  glad  to  talk  over  details  with 
you." 

"  Very  good!  "  said  the  Governor,  smiling. 

The  young  officer  and  the  orderly  led  the  way 
and  Staton  and  the  Governor  rode  together,  with 
Parkowitz  following.  As  they  saw  Cortina  and 
Campo  approaching,  Staton  said: 

"  You'll  do  all  the  talking,  Governor,  I  take  it, 
and  call  on  me  for  any  information,  if  there  is 
any  you  haven't — and  I  doubt  if  there  is." 

*  '  Yes,  I  will  do  the  talking,  by  all  means, ' '  the 
Governor  answered. 

Cortina  himself  was  in  red  trousers,  with  a 
Lieutenant-General's  stars;  for  promotion  was 
easy  in  the  Tongal  army.  He  had  grown  more 
emaciated;  his  lips  seemed  to  be  drawn  tighter 
across  his  protruding  teeth ;  his  skin  was  yellower 
than  when  he  had  bidden  his  lying  adieu  to  the 
Governor. 

"  Your  health  is  quite  restored,  Excellency," 
he  said.  ' l  And  I  understand,  Excellency,  you 
seek  our  terms,"  he  proceeded  boldly,  almost  pat 
ronizingly. 

"  Yes,"  said  Campo,  following  the  lead  of  The 
Thinker. 


WITHOUT  KILLING  477 

Campo  was  a  full-blooded,  rather  youthful-look 
ing  Tongal,  who,  like  Pardo,  had  the  reputation 
of  being  invulnerable.  His  success  in  massacring 
the  twenty  men  at  Bakan  had  left  him  undisputed 
head  of  the  insurgents.  Though  gifted  in  playing 
on  the  superstitions  of  the  people,  he  was  igno 
rant  and  intellectually  a  tool  in  Cortina 's  hands. 

"  Yes,  we  will  have  a  little  talk  together,  doc 
tor,"  said  the  Governor. 

"  You  are  quite  at  our  mercy,"  Cortina  pur 
sued. 

"  Yes,  "added  Campo. 

Their  manner  aggravated  Staton,  who  was  glad 
that  he  was  not  to  do  the  talking.  He  feared  that 
he  would  have  lost  his  temper.  But  the  Big  Fellow 
was  in  the  best  of  humor. 

With  Parkowitz  and  his  guard  hovering  in  the 
background,  the  party  seated  themselves  under 
the  shade  of  a  mango-tree. 

"  Why  do  you  think  that  you  have  us  at  your 
mercy!  "  the  Governor  asked. 

66  We  have  you  completely  surrounded.  We 
have  six  thousand  rifles  and  you  have  only  six 
hundred  men,"  said  Cortina,  softly. 

"  You  are  right;  we  have  only  six  hundred," 
answered  the  Governor. 

The  candor  with  which  he  stated  the  true  num 
ber  made  Campo,  at  least,  suspicious.  He  had 
seen  a  cruiser  arrive  in  the  harbor  that  morning. 
Had  it  brought  reinforcements  ? 

"  Do  you  include  Pardo  in  your  six  thousand?  " 
Big  asked. 


478  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

"  He  was  nothing,"  said  Cortina.  "  A  brigand. 
We  sent  him  out  as  a  pawn,  Excellency.  We 
fooled  you  a  little  there." 

* '  And  fooled  Pardo,  too,  but  not  our  native  con 
stabulary.  Smith's  two  hundred  makes  us  eight 
hundred.  They  were  equal  to  five  hundred  of 
Pardo 's  men."  Then  the  Governor,  who  knew 
that  Campo  also  carried  a  dead  man's  finger  as  a 
talisman,  looked  steadily  at  him  and  added: 
1 '  Pardo  was  not  invulnerable,  at  all,  our  constabs 
found." 

"  Pardo  is  nothing,"  said  Campo,  but  looking 
at  the  ground. 

"  Now,  Staton,"  continued  the  Governor,  and 
Staton  passed  him  a  couple  of  maps.  "  These 
make  it  quite  clear,  doctor." 

On  the  first  which  he  spread  out  the  movement 
of  every  one  of  the  bands  was  traced  from  its 
starting-point,  day  by  day,  in  a  series  of  arrow- 
headed  lines  converging  toward  Takar.  • 

"  Aw!  "  exclaimed  Campo,  in  Oriental  stolid 
ity,  none  the  less  amazed  that  such  accurate  in 
formation  should  be  in  Staton 's  hands. 

"  General  Staton  draws  beautifully,"  said  Cor 
tina,  satirically. 

"  Yes,  the  General  is  a  true  artist  at  his  work," 
said  the  Governor,  unfolding  the  second  map. 

Here  the  converging  lines  with  arrow-heads 
were  the  garrisons  which,  with  swift  marches,  had 
swung  in  behind  the  insurgents. 

"  Aw!  "  breathed  Campo.  But  he  gave  Cor 
tina  a  look  of  hate.  Campo  was  not  altogether 


WITHOUT  KILLING  479 

a  dreamer.  He  had  some  of  the  inherent  mili 
tary  sense  of  any  natural  leader. 

"Beautiful!"  said  Cortina,  with  an  amused 
laugh.  "  Is  that  all,  Excellency?  "  he  asked,  and 
at  heart  he  wished  for  a  mint  to  calm  his  nerves, 
for  he  could  see  for  himself  that  it  was  not  all. 

A  company  of  marines  had  come  down  the 
gangway  of  the  cruiser  at  dawn  just  after  it 
dropped  anchor.  Campo  already  knew  the  met 
tle  of  these  soldiers  of  the  ship.  Marching  out 
with  the  regulars,  they  formed  on  the  right  of 
the  force  of  Don  Francisco  of  Toll,  that  proud 
old  Presidente,  who  now  had  three  hundred  rifles 
and  a  largely  increased  gang  of  road-workers.  And 
thus,  with  all  the  exterior  garrisons  locking  arms 
the  insurgent  half-circle  lay  between  an  outer 
half-circle  and  the  force  in  the  capital. 

66  Do  you  see?  "  asked  the  Governor,  quietly, 
after  the  explanation. 

"  I  see!  "  said  Cortina,  savagely.  "  I  see,  Ex 
cellency,  but  we  have  our  rifles.  We  can  fight  and 
we  will  send  a  bill  for  killing  home  to  America 
that  will  horrify  your  countrymen." 

"  Yes,"  added  Campo.  "  We  will  kill  many. 
We  will  slip  through  the  brush  under  your  sol 
diers'  noses.  Haven't  we  done  it  many  times? 
Have  we  lost  our  cunning?  We  will  return  to  the 
hills  and  fight  you  in  the  old  way." 

"  No,"  answered  the  Governor.  "  Do  you 
notice  that  all  the  natives  have  left  their  homes 
in  the  zone  where  your  forces  are?  We  have 
them  in  town.  The  name  of  everyone  has  been 


480  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

taken  and  everyone  has  his  passport.  So,  observe, 
that,  whether  he  has  hidden  his  rifle  or  not,  every 
adult  between  our  two  lines  without  a  passport 
is  an  enemy  and  so  known. " 

"  Very  clear!  My  compliments,  General  Steel 
Fingers!  "  said  Cortina  to  Staton. 

"  Aw!  "  added  Campo,  but  more  thoughtfully 
than  stolidly. 

"  Now,  every  trail  is  commanded  by  our  rifles, " 
continued  the  Governor,  pursuing  his  fatal  logic, 
as  he  sought  the  eyes  of  either  man  in  vain. 
"  Whichever  way  you  go  you  cannot  dodge.  You 
will  have  to  go  against  American  soldiers  face  to 
fade/1 

"  Face  to  face!  "  repeated  Campo.  This  was 
not  a  thing  his  men  would  ever  do,  and  as  he 
tugged  at  the  white  gloves  at  his  sword  hilt,  still 
trying  to  preserve  his  stolidity,  the  Governor 
saw  that  the  problem  was  now  only  a  matter  of 
talk  and  time ;  but  the  General,  to  clinch  the  argu 
ment,  called  Parkowitz,  who  came  forward. 

"  Cortina/'  said  Parkowitz,  with  a  grizzly  ef 
fort  to  smile,  as  if  he  would  make  a  joke  of  it, 
"  the  steel  in  that  lot  of  two  thousand  rifles  from 
Hongkong  will  not  stand  ten  rounds  and  all  the 
ammunition  in  the  bottom  layers  had  sawdust  for 
powder.  It  was  a  cheap  job." 

Cortina  thought  that  he  understood  this  game. 
It  was  an  intellectual  pleasure  to  his  type  of  mind 
to  expose  it. 

"  You  speak  the  piece  you  are  taught  well,  my 
old  friend,"  he  said. 


WITHOUT  KILLING  481 

"  Well,  you  will  see,"  Parkowitz  returned,  with 
a  sneer,  "  when  you  try  them." 

The  insurgents  had  not  yet  tried  them,  target 
practice  not  being  their  custom  and  ammunition 
toov  costly. 

"  That  is  all,"  the  General  told  Parkowitz,  with 
a  nod.  "  It  may  be  a  little  brutal,  Governor,  but 
when  a  foreigner  who  enjoys  our  protection  sells 
arms  to  fight  us  I  don't  think  so — and  he's  had  his 
punishment. ' ' 

"  I  may  take  the  first  steamer,  now?  "  Parko 
witz  asked. 

"  Yes,  oh,  yes,"  answered  Staton,  casually. 

"  Good-day,  Governor,"  Parkowitz  said,  and 
started  down  the  road.  Yes,  he  certainly  had  had 
his  punishment. 

"  Face  to  face!  "  It  was  Campo  who  fairly 
shouted  this,  his  features  livid  as  he  thought  of 
trying  to  charge  through  that  line  of  regulars. 
"  No,  Excellency,  no!  "  he  cried. 

"  Campo,  you  are  nervous,"  said  Cortina, 
soothingly.  "  But  I  do  agree  with  you  that  we 
find  the  sport  better  with  General  Prairie  Fire 
than  with  General  Steel  Fingers.  Excellency," 
he  added  to  the  Governor,  with  a  half  smile, l  i  will 
you  grant  us  amnesty?  " 

"  What  do  you  think  from  what  you  know  of 
our  policy?  "  was  the  question  in  answer. 

"  Oh,  that  you  will!  " 

Yes,  Cortina  knew  this  well  enough,  this  Amer 
ican  weakness,  or  he  could  not  have  kept  up  his 
chipperness.  He  had  no  wish  to  risk  his  life. 


482  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

From  the  moment  that  he  had  seen  the  maps  and 
looked  from  them  to  the  unyielding  faces  of  the 
Governor  and  the  General,  his  mind  was  quite 
made  up  to  use  the  money  he  had  in  the  bank  at 
Barcelona  in  enjoying  the  sunny  places  of  Spain 
and  Morocco  for  the  rest  of  his  days. 

"  We  haven't  six  thousand  rifles!  "  confessed 
Campo. 

"  Between  three  and  four  thousand.  We  shall 
get  all  you  have,"  said  the  General,  whose  task 
it  was  now  to  arrange  the  details  of  the  surrender 
with  the  commanders  of  the  insurgents. 

"  You  will  excuse  me,  Campo, "  Cortina  said, 
"  but  you  are  the  military  man.  I  cannot  help 
you  in  this,  so  I'll  not  wait.  I  am  very  thirsty  for 
a  mint  and  homesick  for  my  veranda." 

4  i  You  are  a  snake !  ' '  Campo  told  him,  fiercely. 

' '  How  foolish  to  call  names !  ' '  answered  The 
Thinker. 

Cortina,  trying  to  renew  his  old  associations 
with  a  gracious  phrase  or  two,  would  even  ride 
back  to  town  at  the  Governor's  side.  But  the 
Governor's  horse  was  faster  than  his. 

Big  had  not  been  as  happy  since  that  day  in 
court  when  Willy  won  his  suit  against  John  Byng. 
To-morrow  he  would  begin  a  new  order  of  things ! 
To-morrow  Washington  should  have  word  of 
nearly  four  thousand  rifles  taken  and  the  skeptics 
among  the  kill-alls  would  hear  how  Smith's  con- 
stabs  had  stood  their  baptism  of  fire!  He  had 
won  and  won  without  killing ! 

Such  were  his  thoughts  before  in  the  plaza  he 


WITHOUT  KILLING  483 

heard  the  news  of  how  one  of  the  small  circle  of 
workers  in  Bar  had  fallen  unbeknown  to  him, 
though  only  a  few  feet  from  his  side,  and  his  joy 
became  ashes.  W.  W.'s  body  had  been  brought 
in  from  the  hill,  and  the  chaplain  on  one  side  and 
the  Governor  on  the  other  side  of  the  litter, 
which  was  set  on  the  marble  floor  of  the  cathedral, 
found  themselves  silent.  After  a  time,  Father 
Tim,  who  knew  the  thousand  books  even  as  W.  W. 
knew  them,  said  in  the  fulness  of  a  great,  human, 
Christian  moment : 

' '  The  work  goes  on,  Governor,  nevertheless !  ' ' 

"  The  work  goes  on,  Father  Tim.  For  that  he 
lived  and  for  that  he  died, ' '  said  the  Big  Fellow. 

In  coming  out  of  the  cathedral  he  met  Ellen, 
her  head  bare,  regardless  of  the  sun.  Although 
she  had  heard  that  he  was  safe,  the  sight  of  him 
drove  a  dread  out  of  her  mind.  She  came  quite 
near  him,  filling  her  eyes  with  the  wealth  of  his 
height  and  strength. 

"  They  didn't  hit  you,  did  they,  Big?  "  she 
asked.  "  I  was  frantic  when  I  heard  what  you 
had  done." 

'  '  They  were  our  constabs ;  we  had  to  encourage 
them,"  he  answered. 

"  Oh,  is  it  worth  the  price!  "  she  demanded, 
earnestly,  looking  in  at  the  door,  where  the  chap 
lain,  a  huddled  figure  with  grey  lines  for  lips  and 
all  the  merriment  out  of  his  blue  eyes,  still  sat  be 
side  the  litter. 

' i  I  sometimes  ask  myself  that, ' '  he  said ;  ' l  but 
W.  W.  never  did." 


484  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

Then  they  saw  coming  around  a  street  corner 
into  the  plaza  four  young  sailors  of  the  Paktoivan, 
with  a  ripped  sleeve  flapping  about  a  bandaged 
arm,  bearing  another  litter.  Willy  Sweetser, 
an  outsider  who  would  not  question  that  the  right 
was  theirs  to  carry  their  commander,  walked  be 
side  them. 

"  It's  Clancy!  "  Ellen  said,  with  a  cry. 

One  need  make  no  conventional  inquiry;  one 
knew  the  truth  without  experience  of  battles  by 
the  look  of  that  still  figure.  The  message  had 
come  to  Clancy  as  it  had  to  W.  W.,  mercifully 
quick,  making  a  tiny  hole  in  his  forehead;  that 
was  all.  The  face  was  smiling  as  if  enjoying 
victory. 

"  After  two  men  were  down  and  he  took  the 
Colt's  himself  as  we  charged,  and  had  just 
stopped  firing  as  he  saw  that  we  were  reaching 
the  trench — not  a  shot  too  many  or  too  few — the 
last  bullet  from  the  trench  got  him!  "  said  Willy, 
in  a  broken,  angry  voice. 

After  the  sailors  bore  the  litter  into  the  tinted 
light  of  the  cool  nave,  Ellen,  the  Governor  and 
Willy,  standing  in  the  doorway,  saw  the  chaplain 
spring  forward  and  clasp  Clancy's  hands  in  his 
and  hold  them  as  if  he  would,  by  some  miracle, 
bring  him  back  to  life. 

"  Ellen,"  said  Willy,  impulsively,  and  he  re 
gretted  his  impulse  too  late,  "  this  was  in  his 
pocket. ' ' 

It  was  her  own  photograph  that  he  gave  her. 
She  took  it  from  him  mechanically.  Then  she 


WITHOUT  KILLING  485 

looked  up  at  Big  with  a  glazed  appeal  in  her  eyes 
and  uttered  a  stifled  moan. 

61  I — I  didn't  know  this!  "  she  exclaimed  to  him 
blankly. 

For  a  second  she  seemed  to  see  nothing  except 
the  blaze  of  light  and  the  sky,  and  the  photograph 
fell  from  her  fingers.  As  Big  picked  it  up  ab 
stractedly,  he  was  groping  for  some  word  to  ease 
her  grief.  To  him  the  steps  of  Mrs.  Staton,  who 
was  approaching,  seemed  leaden.  He  welcomed 
her  coming  to  ease  a  situation  in  which  he  was 
helpless,  and  with  the  great  load  of  the  debt  he 
owed  Clancy  on  his  heart,  he  went  to  the  Palace 
to  send  that  cable  which  was  to  have  been  one  of 
triumph. 

No  one  of  those  present  will  ever  try  to  repeat 
the  few  words  he  said  in  the  afternoon  over  the 
two  graves  on  the  hillside.  They  say  it  is  impos 
sible.  They  say  he  simply  poured  out  his  heart. 
But  the  two  men,  so  different  of  schooling  and  of 
thought,  whom  Bar  had  lost  would  have  been  the 
last  to  approve  of  any  bitterness. 

Had  W.  W.  been  told  the  night  before  the  fight 
what  would  happen  he  would  have  said :  '  *  Why, 
I  am  ready.  How  could  I  preach  the  Word  if  I 
weren't?  " 

Had  Clancy  been  told,  he  would  have  said,  smil 
ing:  "  Why,  that's  in  my  game,  but  it's  not  in 
yours,  W.  W.  Mind  you  keep  under  cover  till  the 
firing  is  over." 

If  he  could  look  down  from  "  up  there  " — 
wherever  it  is — W.  W.  might  see  the  thoughtful 


486  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

faces  of  hundreds  of  soldiers  who  were  better  men 
for  having  known  him  and  he  might  hear  of  some 
halting  priest  of  the  Word  who  had  found 
strength  and  fortitude  in  this  example  of  how  the 
sneers  of  some  cynic  or  unbeliever  like  Parkowitz 
were  stilled. 

If  the  Lord  High  Admiral  of  the  Paktowan 
could  look  down,  he  might  see  on  white  ships  in 
many  seas  where  they  toast  the  navy — the  quick 
navy — young  officers  thinking  quietly  that  they 
must  live  up  to  the  standard  set  by  the  quick 
Clancy,  sunny  traveler,  making  love  to  many  girls 
innocently,  without  guile;  and  he  might  see  sun 
downers,  after  they  had  blinked  and  cleared  their 
throats,  warming  to  kinder  words  and  more  gen 
erous  views,  and  hear  old  Admirals,  in  their  cor 
ners  of  retirement,  saying:  "  Lashed  her  to  the 
trench,  did  he!  "  and  quoting  what  the  Person 
ality  said  when  he  heard  of  the  incident. 

That  scene  in  the  little  American  cemetery  was 
one  of  many  of  its  kind  which  are  cut  fine,  clear, 
and  terrible  in  the  memory.  "  The  honors  of 
a  military  funeral  ' '  is  the  expression  of  the  press 
dispatches.  With  the  splendor  of  the  sun's  set 
ting  bronzing  the  foliage  and  bathing  his  fore 
head,  Father  Tim  read  the  service.  Then  crash 
spoke  the  volley  of  the  Krags,  the  soldiers  swung 
into  line  with  veteran  stride,  and  a  fighting-man's 
last  tribute  to  the  fighting  dead  was  over. 

The  Governor  and  Ellen  led  the  way  for  the 
silent  company.  Not  until  they  were  in  the  streets 
of  the  town  did  either  speak. 


WITHOUT  KILLING  487 

"  Oh,  Big,  I  keep  thinking  what  if  you,  too, 
had  been "  and  she  did  not  finish  the  sentence. 

He  looked  at  her,  startled,  and  she  looked  at 
the  ground. 

"  It's  the  chance  and  one  keeps  right  on,  not 
thinking  of  that,"  he  rejoined. 

"  Though  I'm  so  bitter  at  what  it  cost,  I'm 
very  proud,  Big,  of  the  way  you've  done  it — and 
you  saw  ahead  and  you  were  right!  "  she  said. 
"  Oh,  I  don't  believe  in  killing  any  more  than 
you  do." 

The  return  for  the  price  that  had  been  paid  one 
might  witness  in  the  plaza.  Big  and  Ellen  joined 
the  General,  who  stood  watching  the  insurgent 
bands  stack  their  rifles  and  file  past.  With  their 
ammunition  belts  some  had  thrown  down  those 
talismans  which,  in  their  superstition,  they  had 
hoped  would  make  them  invulnerable.  Among 
these  was  a  newspaper  photograph  of  a  facile 
orator  with  a  mobile  mouth,  which  had  been 
pasted  on  a  piece  of  cardboard. 

"  We  might  send  that  over  to  Cortina,"  said 
Smith,  of  the  constabulary. 


XLIII 

HAKVEST 

WHEN  Ellen  and  Big  parted  at  Staton's 
door  lie  gave  her  the  photograph  that 
had  been  found  in  Clancy's  pocket.    Af 
ter  she  reached  her  room  she  looked  at  it  again, 
and  a  peeling  edge  discovered  to  her  the  fact  that 
underneath  was  another  photograph.     Her  own 
had  been  stripped  off  its  board  and  pasted  on 
that  of  Clem,  and  over  Clem's  face  was  a  news 
paper  notice  of  the  recent  marriage  of  Miss  Clem 
entine  Underhill  to  one  Mr.  George  Boyson. 

One  who  knew  Clancy  well,  the  quick  Clancy, 
sailor  and  sentimentalist,  could  guess  his  mood 
when  he  wrote  underneath  the  notice  in  his  round, 
boyish  hand:  "  I  know  a  truer  girl  than  you;  ' 
and  covered  the  untrue  with  the  true.  But  he  had 
never  mentioned  his  love  to  Ellen.  How  could 
he,  he  may  have  thought,  when  his  comradeship 
with  her  had  been  begun  on  a  basis  of  loyalty  to 
Clem! 

As  she  put  both  photographs  away  together, 
without  knowing  why  she  did  so  or  what  she 
would  ever  do  with  them,  she  recalled  in  vivid  de 
tail  how  Clancy  had  secured  her  portrait.  Con 
fessing  himself  a  robber  bold,  he  had  seized  it 

488 


HARVEST  489 

from  Mrs.  Staton's  drawing-room  table  and  fled 
in  triumph,  to  return  later  with  irresistibly  good- 
humored  prayers  for  pardon. 

The  scene  out  of  the  window,  where  the  General 
stood  a  stiff,  sober  profile  in  the  evening  light, 
watching  the  insurgents  file  by,  reminded  her  that 
the  first  great  chapter  in  Bar  was  closed.  Did  she 
care  to  begin  a  new  one  when  her  term  of  service 
was  up  and  it  was  her  privilege  to  return  to  the 
States  on  a  vacation  or  for  good,  as  she  chose? 
The  island  could  not  be  the  same  to  her  again. 
Her  old  circle  of  friendships  was  broken.  Her 
relations  with  Big  seemed  to  have  changed  be 
yond  the  possibility  of  any  working  arrangement. 

"I'll  go  home  by  the  first  steamer, "  she  de 
cided. 

As  she  started  to  make  preparations  to  occupy 
her  mind  by  looking  over  this  thing  and  that  be 
fore  packing,  she  picked  up  her  account  book,  to 
which  she  had  been  faithful  even  if  she  did  not 
know  "  math."  She  had  saved  a  sum  almost 
equal  to  her  debt.  Suddenly  she  thought  that  she 
would  not  pay  him  back.  It  would  hurt  Big.  It 
would  be  unfair  and  cruel.  No,  she  would  spend 
her  money  on  something  for  the  old  house  in 
Bolton  to  please  Aunt  Julia  and  Madame 
Mother. 

All  her  foreign  and  native  friends,  including 
Don  Francisco,  a  field  marshal  of  polite  phrases, 
were  at  the  landing  to  wish  the  Charming  Lady  a 
happy  voyage,  while  the  children  of  Exhibit  A, 
who  now  could  spell  such  whoppers  as  '  '  f ran- 


490  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

chise  "  and  "  electoral,"  sang  the  Eed,  White, 
and  Blue,  with  a  verse  composed  in  haste  espe 
cially  for  the  occasion  by  Kiddy  Witherbee.  It 
was  "  Good-bye,  Two  Braids!  "  and  "  Good-bye, 
Big!  "  between  her  and  the  Governor.  This  re 
mained  their  working  arrangement,  if  any  were 
needed  when  they  were  to  be  apart.  She  was  to 
take  Madame  Mother  the  story  of  how  mind  and 
character  were  winning. 

Willy  Sweetser  departed  soon  afterward. 
Company  after  company  of  regulars  merrily  took 
the  transports  to  the  land  of  brown  the  wheats 
and  oysters  on  the  half  shell.  "  Smith  and  his 
constabs  can  have  the  job;  the  United  States  is 
good  enough  for  us,"  was  the  burden  of  their 
refrain. 

Peace  having  been  won,  the  building  of  the 
structure  which  must  have  peace  as  its  base  could 
begin.  All  the  captured  insurgents  were  sent  back 
to  their  homes.  The  fangs  of  the  lawless  were 
largely  drawn;  the  industrious  returned  to  in 
dustry.  Ever  traveling,  the  Governor  met  the 
folks  of  the  towns  and  villages.  He  sat  with  them 
at  their  feasts  and  in  their  councils.  He  was 
patient  with  their  complaints  and  elemental  in  his 
expositions.  They  tried  the  municipal  elections 
and  sometimes  stumbled  sadly;  but  he  helped 
them  up  again  and  started  them  afresh.  The 
schools  flourished,  native  teachers  were  being 
trained  to  assist  the  white  teachers,  while  a  grow 
ing  fever  for  baseball  spread  through  the  island. 

"  I  think  baseball  is  the  truest  friend  of  the 


HARVEST  491 

propaganda,"  said  the  old  Presidente  of  Toll. 
"  If  the  players  learn  not  to  use  the  bat  on  the 
umpire,  is  it  not  proven  that  they  have  the 
true  instinct  of  the  constitutional  rights  of  the 
minority?  " 

Although  Don  Francisco,  "  that  original  Har 
den  man, ' '  did  say  that  the  Big  Fellow  was  pretty 
young  to  be  sponsor  of  so  large  a  family,  the  peo 
ple  were  beginning  to  call  him  "  The  Father  of 
the  Tongals,"  which  he  liked  better  than  His 
Bigness  or  His  Excellency.  To  those  who  were 
going  too  fast,  who  would  run  before  they  could 
walk,  he  had  to  speak  in  warning  as  well  as  in 
struction.  They  had  first  to  creep,  first  to  learn 
the  rudiments  of  self-government,  as  he  kept 
explaining. 

An  old  white-haired  bishop  from  America  sur 
prised  the  parishes  with  the  good  tidings  that 
there  were  more  of  the  same  kind  of  men  in  the 
land  that  produced  young  Father  Tim.  Pros 
perity  was  also  promised  with  peace.  Horswell 
was  doing  well  as  Parkowitz's  successor  and 
Thompson  would  soon  begin  shipping  coal  from 
his  mine. 

With  details  of  the  great  change  that  had  come 
to  this  people  one  might  go  on  indefinitely.  The 
Big  Fellow  had  won  his  greatest  fight;  unarmed 
he  might  ride  across  his  island.  Was  it  only  his 
personality  that  had  wrought  success  with  the 
abc  idea  at  which  the  clerk  from  Tooting  had 
scoffed?  Or  had  he  implanted  a  principle  that 
would  grow  in  the  native  mind!  It  was  the  man 


492  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

and  the  idea  together;  for  good  ideas  need  good 
men  to  make  them  come  true. 

And  now  in  the  spring  of  the  year  following  the 
autumn  in  which  Ellen  had  gone,  he  himself  was 
to  have  his  vacation,  and  to  see  his  own  country 
for  which  his  eyes  were  hungry.  A  Governor 
from  a  neighboring  island  could  carry  on  the 
work  in  the  Big  Fellow's  absence;  and  he  was 
making  his  preparations  for  departure  when  he 
received  a  message  from  Bolton,  twelve  months' 
old,  which  concerns  our  story  more  intimately 
than  Bar,  at  this  stage. 

Our  postal  service  played  strange  tricks  in 
those  early  days.  The  humid  heat  of  the  rainy 
season  made  the  ink  run  and  melted  the  gum  that 
held  envelopes  together.  This  letter,  signed  only 
"  Mother,"  had  been  twice  across  the  Pacific  and 
finally  to  the  Dead  Letter  office,  where  "  Har 
den  "  and  "  Bar  "  were  deciphered. 

'  '  I  have  been  meaning  to  write  you  of  this  ever 
since  I  heard  that  Ellen  was  going,"  she  said, 
"  and  I  have  delayed,  thinking  that  being  thrown 
together  on  the  island  you  would  both  find  your 
selves  if  there  were  anything  to  find.  Besides,  I 
knew  that  when  I  was  young  like  Ellen  and  had 
some  of  her  spirit,  I  hope,  I  should  not  have  liked 
to  have  any  man's  mother  tell  him  that  I  was  in 
love  with  him. 

"  I  must  be  getting  pretty  old  and  out  of  the 
way  of  understanding  girls,  or  I  would  have 
thought  before  of  what  occurs  to  me  now.  If  such 
a  thing,  some  little,  ungovernable  thing,  in  the 


HARVEST  493 

back  of  her  head,  which  we  call  love,  did  send 
Ellen  to  Bar,  then  once  she  had  arrived  she  would 
be  most  careful  to  conceal  it. 

"  Long  before  the  President  asked  you  to  go  I 
half  guessed  that  Ellen  loved  you.  Frequently  I 
was  certain  of  it.  Again,  she  was  so  young,  so  im 
pressionable,  that  I  doubted  her  fixity.  That  night 
when  Julia  admonished  her,  and  too  severely, 
I  must  say,  after  her  ride  with  Ned  Walker,  it 
came  over  me  in  a  flash,  as  I  saw  how  you  took 
her  side  and  the  way  you  looked  at  her — yes,  it 
came  over  me  then,  as  the  cumulative  result  of 
other  observations,  probably,  that  you  loved  her. 

"  I  saw  that  you  loved  a  woman  for  the  first 
time  with  all  the  strength  and  faults  of  your  big, 
boyish  nature,  and  I  saw  it  as  I  was  about  to  tell 
Julia,  that  she  had  gone  far  enough  and  demand 
she  retract  what  she  had  said. 

'  i  Then  I  reasoned  quickly,  as  women  do.  I  said, 
my  son's  happiness  is  at  stake.  I  concluded  that 
love  for  such  natures  as  yours  and  Ellen's  must 
be  a  love  that  would  endure.  If  it  were  of  that 
kind,  her  going  away  that  night  would  not  destroy 
it  and  it  would  only  grow  the  stronger.  This 
separation  could  not  keep  you  apart.  Yes,  I  con 
cluded  that  it  would  be  a  test  for  you  both,  and  I 
did  not  interfere  with  Julia.  I  let  Ellen  go.  You 
see,  I  did  what  I  thought  was  best  and  that  is  all 
one  can  do.  Now  I  think  it  is  time  for  you  to 
know. 

i  i  Another  thing  which,  perhaps,  partly  excuses 
me.  I  thought  that  in  one  of  your  great,  winning 


4<94  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

impulses  you  might  not  let  Ellen  leave  the  house 
unless  she  went  with  you,  or  that  you  would  follow 
her  and  refuse  to  take  no  for  an  answer.  But  I 
fear  you  had  the  '  faint  heart  that  never  won  fair 
lady,'  as  the  poet  says,  and  such  frailty  I  never 
expected  of  you,  Jimmy." 

"  Mine  has  endured!  Mine  has!  "  said  Big, 
and  his  head  went  forward  on  his  desk. 

Had  Ellen's  endured?  Was  it  ever  there  to 
endure?  He  saw  Clancy's  face  through  a  mist  and 
he  saw  hers  as  she  stood  under  the  cathedral  arch 
when  Willy  gave  her  the  photograph.  But  all 
would  be  settled  in  a  short  time.  He  would  reach 
home  as  soon  as  the  post;  and  that  thing  which 
the  working  arrangement  had  never  allowed  to 
have  root  in  Bar  he  set  aside  as  some  waiting 
treasure  in  a  box  which  he  was  to  open. 

The  natives  made  the  day  of  his  departure  a 
holiday  in  which  to  wish  him  a  happy  voyage  and 
pray  for  his  return.  They  had  a  fiesta  and  speech- 
making,  and  sent  out  a  boat-load  of  flowers  and  a 
deputation  headed  by  Don  Francisco  to  the  trans 
port  to  make  more  speeches. 

"  Father  of  the  Tongals  and  my  good  friend, 
you  have  been  the  rising  sun  to  our  Bar,"  said 
Don  Francisco,  magniloquently ;  "  and  though 
you  go,  unlike  the  sun  when  it  sets  your  light  still 
remains." 

If  Miss  Destiny  overheard  this,  as  most  likely 
she  did,  she  must  have  given  a  backward  glance 
of  "  Now,  what  have  you  to  say  about  it?  "  to  the 
folks  out  Plymouth  Kock  way. 


HARVEST  495 

Their  answer  would  be  ready,  of  course. 

"  Isn't  he  ours?  "  For  they  claim  everything 
of  which  they  approve. 

"  And  mind,  young  woman,  don't  you  make  any 
more  flying  leaps  till  you  consult  us,"  we  hear 
them  warning  her. 

"  I  would  never  have  crossed  the  Mississippi," 
we  hear  her  tartly  replying,  "  if  I'd  waited  to 
talk  it  over  with  you !  ' ' 


<*. 


XLIV 

THE    HOME    LAND 

NOW  the  Governor  and  Kiddy  knew  the  sweet 
ness  of  sleep  under  blankets;  they  knew 
the  glory  of  sunrises  that  wake  you  gently 
and  of  sunsets  that  say  good-night  gently  in  a 
season  of  twilight;  and  they  knew  the  meaning 
of  home  to  men  who  have  loyally  done  the  service 
they  were  sent  to  do  in  a  strange  land.  A  cere 
monial  day  was  that  when  they  doffed  their  duck 
suits  and  out  of  their  trunks  came  the  temperate 
zone  chrysalis. 

"  Boss,  think  of  wearing  a  vest  again!  "  said 
Kiddy.  i '  Think  of  having  a  vest  with  four  pock 
ets!  Let's  see — there  was  one  for  a  pencil,  one 
for  a  watch,  one  for  an  address  book,  and  one  for 
a  dollar  bill  when  I  had  a  dollar  bill.  I  guess  I'll 
learn  to  use  them  again,  all  right." 

The  Golden  Gate  was  all  gold  to  them.  They 
were  entering  the  outpost  port  of  the  Occident  to 
see  their  own  world  for  the  first  time  through  a 
traveler's  eye,  and  through  Benito's,  as  far  as 
they  could  draw  the  first  disciple.  For  Benito 
was  with  them.  Far  Eastern  destiny  had  at 
tached  him  to  the  person  of  the  Big  Fellow  for 
life. 

496 


THE  HOME  LAND  497 

"It  is  His  Great  Bigness'  country,  where  all 
things  are  big,"  said  the  Guardian,  with  Oriental 
stoicism,  as  he  stared  at  the  immense  buildings. 
"  I  see  no  men  among  all  these  tall  men  taller 
than  he." 

The  pleasure  of  outfitting  him  in  European 
clothes  they  had  anticipated  all  the  way  across 
the  Pacific.  He  chose  a  sailor  blue  suit,  a  bright 
red  tie,  a  pancake  hat,  and  patent-leather  shoes. 
After  the  first  day  in  woolen  underwear  his  unac 
customed  skin  protested. 

"  It  makes  me  itch  like  the  smallpox,"  he  told 
the  Governor.  "  Yet,  I  will  wear  it  and  the  new 
shoes,  which  are  so  beautiful,  for  I  see  in  your 
country,  Great  Bigness,  everyone  wears  the 
shoes." 

The  cooler  air  put  an  edge  to  their  appetites. 
They  craved  the  substantiate  which  were  bringing 
the  color  back  to  their  cheeks  with  the  rush  of  fresh 
red  blood  in  happy  arteries,  which  sent  out  mes 
sages  of  cheer  and  plenty  to  every  part  of  their 
systems. 

1  i  Oh,  it  is  home,  home,  home !  ' '  Kiddy  kept  re 
iterating.  "  I  used  to  think  home  was  just  my 
own  town,  and  now  I  think  it  is  anywhere  in  the 
United  States.  And  I  don't  know  whether  I  like 
the  oysters  or  the  strawberries  or  the  plums  or 
the  ripe  olives  best,  after  the  steaks  and  the 
chops.  I  can  feel  the  steaks  giving  me  strength  as 
I  eat  them  ' :  —and  Kiddy 's  chin  was  pretty  peaked. 
* l  Think  of  getting  these  things  all  at  once  and  be 
ing  equal  to  all!  It's  a  good  world,  I  tell  you, 


498  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

Boss.  But  I  notice  we  aren't  much  on  the  rice  and 
chicken  and  I  shy  every  time  I  see  the  glint  of  a 
piece  of  tin.  No  more  solder  in  my  peas  for  the 
present,  thank  you,  and  we  can  eat  all  we  want 
all  the  way  on  the  train,  can't  we,  Boss!  " 

Big  took  Kiddy's  point  of  view  that  the  best 
of  voyages  was  that  across  their  own  continent, 
when  local  color  flies  by  in  landscapes  hung  be 
tween  telegraph  poles  for  a  changing  panorama 
of  two  thousand  miles,  without  the  interruption  of 
a  custom  house. 

Through  California  and  the  olive  orchards, 
where  all  the  coloring  is  rich  with  harmony,  and 
up  the  slopes  of  the  Sierras;  across  the  desert 
glistening  with  the  frost  of  the  alkali;  over  the 
Eockies  to  the  ranges  where  the  cattle  graze 
on  the  river  bottoms;  across  the  rolling  levels 
bearded  a  fresher  green  with  young  wheat  than 
the  tropics  know,  where  the  farmhouses  standing 
stark  against  the  sky  a  few  years  before  are  now 
set  among  trees  and  the  hand  of  man  has  made 
laughter  of  the  desolation  of  the  prairies  which 
are  one  day  to  be  as  fair  to  the  eye  as  the  plains 
of  Lombardy  or  the  Lahn;  across  the  Mississippi 
and  on  into  the  Middle  West,  with  its  parks  of 
farmlands,  with  the  fruit  trees  in  blossom  and  the 
roof  of  more  than  one  farmhouse  covered  with  the 
petals  of  a  favorite  apple  or  pear  tree,  they  trav 
eled  in  May,  in  the  wonder  of  scenes  grown  more 
familiar  in  their  absence,  in  the  joy  of  eyes  dwell 
ing  on  the  oak  and  the  maple  again.  Out  of  the 
windows  they  saw  the  wealth  of  the  soil  yielding 


THE  HOME  LAND  499 

its  abundance;  in  the  cities  they  saw  the  wealth 
that  energy  had  created  in  new  buildings  in 
progress  and  in  the  fresh  earth  turned  for  sidings 
and  branch  lines  the  promise  of  care  for  growing 
populations. 

They  scanned  the  faces  at  the  stations,  keen, 
eager,  like  the  young  nation  they  typified,  in  which 
ambition  of  the  individual  still  runs  high  to  do 
for  himself,  without  relying  on  the  government 
to  do  all  for  him;  while  in  two  or  three  places 
they  had  glimpses  of  red  faces  between  black 
braids  of  hair,  which,  as  Kiddy  informed  Benito, 
belonged  to  the  first  American  families. 

"  Great  Bigness,  you  are  so  very  kind,"  quoth 
the  Guardian,  "  to  come  from  such  a  big  country, 
where  they  shoot  you  out  of  big  gun  to  big  gun  >: 
— meaning  the  tunnels  and  the  covered  stations, — 
"  and  yet  you  do  not  come  to  the  end,  only  to 
the  big  river !  You  are  so  very  kind  to  be  so  pa 
tient  with  the  Cortina  and  listen  all  day  to  the 
troubles  of  the  barefoots  of  my  countrymen." 

There  was  some  truth  in  that.  The  traffic  on 
the  trails  of  Benito 's  island  was  pretty  insignifi 
cant  beside  that  of  the  far-stretching  steel  rails. 
A  Governor  of  Bar  might  be  mighty  in  Takar, 
but  he  was  a  vague  unit  in  this  great  army  of  un 
ceasing  workers,  each  trying  to  conquer  an  indi 
vidual  world  in  the  United  States.  Two  years 
was  a  long  time  to  have  lost  touch.  Could  he  get 
back  in  step  again!  If  he  gave  up  his  Bar,  what, 
then,  was  he  to  do? 

He  laughed  when  he  found  that  Kiddy  had 


500  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

saved  a  good  portion  of  his  salary,  while  he  him 
self,  spending  so  liberally  in  keeping  open  house 
for  all  the  Presidentes,  returned  with  less  than 
he  had  when  he  left  home,  a  trifling  sum  if  we 
exclude  his  books.  But  money  never  had  bothered 
him  much.  It  meant  only  bed  and  food. 

"  I'll  borrow  from  you,  Kiddy, "  he  said. 

"  Boss,  I'll  lend  you  every  cent  IVe  got!  " 
Kiddy  returned,  honestly. 

il  I  wonder  whether  we  could  earn  our  livings 
if  we  were  to  get  off  the  train  at  the  next  station 
without  any  money  in  our  pockets  or  any  friends 
to  fall  back  on,"  Big  suggested. 

"  You  bet  we  could!  "was  Kiddy's  view. 

"  Yes,  we  could!  "  Big  declared,  confidently. 
He  felt  still  young  and  strong  enough  to  take  his 
place  as  a  two-dollar-a-day  man,  at  least,  in  the 
mixed  gang,  and  this  was  a  source  of  more  per 
sonal  pride  than  his  work  in  Bar. 

Big  was  a  true  democrat  and  a  born  palaverer, 
no  doubt.  Everyone  with  whom  he  talked  brought 
him  some  message,  as  we  know.  He  was  renew 
ing  his  acquaintance  with  his  own  country  through 
all  the  people  he  met  on  the  train.  Farmer,  busi 
ness  man,  professional  man,  miner,  workman 
with  whom  he  spoke  saw  a  big,  smiling  fellow  who 
seemed  to  enjoy  the  sight  of  every  town  and  every 
glance  out  of  the  car  window  and  who  was  set 
tling  back  into  home  ways  as  easily  as  Kiddy  into 
the  use  of  his  waistcoat  pockets. 

To  them  he  did  not  have  to  talk  the  abc's  of 
that  great  thing  which  he  had  tried  to  implant  in 


THE  HOME  LAND  501 

the  mind  of  a  strange  people  in  their  behalf.  All 
the  elementals  which  had  taxed  his  patience  in 
their  exposition  were  here  a  part  of  blood  and 
instinct  and  made  that  common  tie  which  held 
all  together  in  a  bond  that  distance  or  difference 
of  climate  or  of  occupation  could  not  break.  Yes, 
it  was  home,  home,  home;  and  he  knew  its  value 
and  all  it  stood  for  better  than  he  ever  had  before. 

When  the  train's  flight  at  daybreak  revealed  the 
rolling  country  which  was  that  part  of  the  land 
that  was  his  by  birth  and  youthful  associations, 
he  saw  this,  too,  with  new  eyes,  as  part  of  the 
great  whole;  and  Kiddy,  keen-eyed  for  it,  made 
him  slightly  jealous  by  pointing  out  the  tower 
of  the  new  Sentinel  building,  which,  you  may  be 
sure,  was  highly  conspicuous  over  the  roof  tops; 
for  wasn't  The  Sentinel  Willy's  paper? 

As  they  came  out  on  the  car  steps  at  the  Union 
Station  and  Kiddy  Witherbee  sprang  into  the 
arms  of  a  mother  from  the  tenements,  who  had 
brought  him  up  to  "  mind  his  business  and  his 
manners  and  keep  on  the  job,"  the  Big  Fellow  saw 
that  he  had  not  been  forgotten.  There  were  the 
faces  of  his  friends  looking  into  his  with  friend 
ship's  true  welcome. 

"  H'lo,  Big!  "  called  Willy  Sweetser. 

6 1  Ye  divil,  ye !  ' '  from  Pete  Maloney. 

"  You  did  pretty  well,"  from  Uncle  Theodore, 
whose  smile  spoke  more  praise  than  his  words. 

"  Took  more'n  a  heathen  job  or  a  wood-pile  to 
floor  you!  "  from  Hiram  Hobber,  who  had  come 
to  the  city  especially  for  the  occasion. 


502  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

The  Big  Fellow  had  one  arm  around  Uncle 
Theodore  and  the  other  all  but  around  the  lean 
Hiram  and  the  lean  Pete,  when  he  noticed  on  the 
edge  of  the  circle  a  little  lady  who  claimed  his 
attention  instantly. 

"  You  were  always  so  big  and  simple,  I  don't 
see  how  you  ever  got  away  from  them  savages 
alive!  "  said  Mrs.  Billings,  using  her  handker 
chief  freely. 

"  He's  not  so  damned  simple!  No,  not  so  very 
damned  simple!  "  added  Colonel  Walker.  For 
the  Colonel  also  was  present  and  as  chipper  as 
ever. 

And  what  was  this  of  which  all  were  talking? 

11  We're  going  to  make  you  a  real  Governor  of 
a  real  State  of  these  United  States,  with  no  Ex 
cellency  business  in  it!  "  declared  Willy. 

"  Yes,  and  I  know  one  Congressional  district 
that's  going  to  send  a  solid  delegation,"  said 
Hiram.  "  If  you'll  only  hustle  for  it  a  little,  it's 
yours,  easy !  ' 

"  He's  always  been  too  busy  doing  his  best 
on  the  job  he  had,"  added  Uncle  Theodore, 
"to  be  looking  for  another  till  he  was  asked  to 
take  it." 

"  You  don't  need  to  hustle,"  asserted  Willy. 
"It's  all  right!  "  We  fear  that  Willy  was  be 
coming  a  boss,  though  he  denied  the  allegation  as 
earnestly  as  any  boss  ever  had. 

"  And  I'm  not  pulling  back,"  said  Colonel 
Walker,  who  always  knew  the  winning  band 
wagon,  and  immediately  he  was  mounted,  acted  as 


THE  HOME  LAND  503 

if  he  were  driver  and  owner.  In  fact,  he  insisted 
that  he  was  the  original  Harden  man. 

From  his  heart  the  Big  Fellow  thanked  them. 
But  he  would  not  decide  yet.  He  was  going  to 
take  the  first  train  to  Bolton. 

' '  If  I  go  in  I'll  fight  to  win!  "  he  announced, 
finally.  "  But  I  make  no  promises.  I'll  lay  no 
plans  till  I  have  been  home.  There  is  someone 
I  wish  to  consult  " — and  the  someone  in  question 
was  not  Madame  Mother. 


XLV 

BACK   TO  BOLTON 

OF  a  strictly  polite  and  circumspect  nature 
was  that  meeting  between  Epaminanidad 
and  Benito  at  the  Bolton  station.  Benito 
resolutely  refused  to  give  up  the  dress- suit  case, 
which  was  well,  as  Pam  was  seized  with  such  a 
fit  of  snickering  that  he  must  have  dropped  it 
when  they  approached  the  gate. 

"  Same  old  trick!  Same  old  trick!  Tee-hee! 
Tee-hee !  ' '  he  cried,  for  he  could  hold  in  no  longer 
after  Big  started  up  the  path. 

This  time  the  cherry-tree  was  not  in  fruit,  but 
in  bloom,  and  a  shower  of  blossoms  descended  on 
the  head  and  shoulders  of  our  Governor  of  Bar. 
Through  the  flowers  he  saw  an  oval  face  with  long 
lashes  shading  the  eyes  that  challenged  any  storm 
ing  party  to  do  its  worst. 

"  Two  Braids!  I'm  coming  up!  "  he  called, 
dropping  the  over-burdened  overcoat  from  his 
arm,  while  out  of  the  pockets  fell  a  magazine  and 
a  book. 

"Who's  afraid?"  she  answered.  "You 
couldn't  possibly  climb  it!  " 

"  Can't  I?    You  watch  me!" 

He  flattered  himself  he  made  the  ascent  with 

504 


BACK  TO  BOLTON  505 

some  agility ;  and  there  lie  was,  standing  on  a  limb 
on  one  side  of  the  trunk  and  she  on  a  limb  on  the 
other  side. 

"  How  now?  "  he  asked. 

"  Yes,  how  now?  You  seem  to  have  climbed 
up,  Excellency, "  she  observed,  "  just  as  I  was 
about  to  climb  down!  "  Laughing,  she  sprang 
to  the  ground,  leaving  him  with  nothing  to  do  but 
follow  her. 

"  Do  you  notice  anything  different  about  the 
house?  "  she  asked,  a  little  hurt  that  he  had  not 
seen  it  already,  although  she  had  not  given  him 
a  fair  chance  to  look. 

"  Yes,  I  do.  I  see  a  conservatory  filled  with 
flowers/'  he  returned,  with  a  glance  of  appre 
ciation  which  cured  the  hurt  instantly  and  made 
her  wildly  happy  that  she  had  never  offered  to  pay 
him  that  debt,  "  which  will  gladden  the  hearts 
of  those  we  love  in  the  long  winter  months.  I 
know  who  did  it.  I  know  where  some  of  the  salary 
of  the  Charming  Lady  of  Exhibit  A  has  gone." 

The  two  old  ladies  were  on  the  porch,  of  course, 
waiting  with  due  dignity  and  pride,  which  could 
not  keep  the  tears  out  of  their  eyes. 

"  Madame  Mother!  Aunt  Julia!  "  he  cried. 
* '  I  can  see  you  are  well !  I  know  you  are  happy, 
for  here  are  your  children  home !  home !  home !  ' : 

He  threw  his  hat  in  the  air  and  the  old  steps 
creaked  under  his  spring. 

"  Jimmy!  My  son!  my  son!  Jimmy,  you  are 
disarranging  my  hair !  My !  Is  this  the  custom 
in  Bar?  "  quoth  Madame  Mother.  "  Julia,  see 


506  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

that  he  treats  you  respectfully  and  touches  your 
forehead  with  his  lips,  as  a  great  man  of  state 
should  do  when  he  returns  after  his  success 
abroad." 

"  Oh!  If  that  is  it!  "  He  planted  a  kiss  on 
Madame  Mother's  forehead  and  then  took  her 
thin,  almost  transparent  hands  in  his  and  touched 
his  lips  to  them. 

"  Oh,  you  did  it  gently,  I  will  say  that — you 
weren't  rough — only  it  was  so  impetuous,"  ad 
mitted  Madame  Mother,  who  was  not  really 
displeased. 

"  Now,  Aunt  Julia,  strictly  according  to  rule," 
said  Big,  turning  to  her.  "  Fold  your  arms- 
no,  put  them  at  your  side,  soldier  fashion,  and 
stand  perfectly  still,  lest  I  might  press  your  fore 
head  too  hard." 

"  I  won't  do  anything  of  the  kind,  you  great, 
ridiculous  boy!  "  she  protested.  "  You  may  kiss 
me  on  the  mouth.  There !  That  is  proper.  And 
now,  though  I'm  only  your  aunt,  you  will  kiss  my 
hands!  "  which  he  did,  as  became  the  great  man 
of  state. 

"  I  think  we  ought  to  measure  him!  I  believe 
Mister  Ninety  in  Calculus  has  been  growing, ' '  said 
Ellen. 

"  I  haven't!  "  he  answered,  earnestly.  Why 
was  she  always  touching  him  on  his  sorest 
point? 

"Let's  see!" 

She  cleared  away  the  vines  from  the  old  mark. 
An  obedient  vassal,  he  complied  with  orders  from 


BACK  TO  BOLTON  507 

on  high  and  the  line  of  that  sturdy  back  was  still 
as  straight  as  the  post. 

"No!  He's  not!  "  Ellen  admitted.  "  And  if 
he's  not,  why,  what  does  that  prove?  I  appeal  to 
the  court,  what  does  that  prove?  If  he's  not 
grown  in  Bar,  where  everything  grows  so  fast, 
why "~ 

"  He's  stopped  growing,  positively!  "  declared 
Big. 

"  But  we  treat  the  potentate  illy,"  she  went 
on,  snatching  down  some  of  the  honeysuckle  vine 
ruthlessly.  "  Here's  one  for  your  buttonhole, 
O  Excellency,  and  one  for  the  second  buttonhole 
and  the  third,  and  one  sticking  out  of  the  back 
of  your  collar  adds  an  Oriental  effect.  And  he 
should  be  crowned.  We'll  crown  him,  Aunt 
Julia." 

She  twisted  a  lock  of  hair  till  it  stood  erect  on 
the  top  of  his  head  and  to  this  she  tied  still  another 
honeysuckle  branch,  while  he  submitted  to  the 
nonsense  happily. 

"  You  are  perfectly  foolish!  "  said  Aunt  Julia. 

"  Perfectly!  "  said  Madame  Mother,  beaming. 

<  '  Wait !  ' '  cried  Ellen.    '  <  Pam  must  see  him ! ' ' 

She  called  that  partisan  of  the  Spartans,  who 
came  with  his  stately  shuffle  and  on  the  lookout. 
She  wasn't  to  get  any  joke  on  him,  no,  indeedy! 

"  Behold  the  potentate — and  what  a  fine  word 
behold  is  for  a  potentate! — behold  the  high 
and  mighty  potentate  of  Bar,  Epaminanidad ! 
See  him  in  floral  grandeur!  See  his  topknot! 
Is  it  not  fierce?  With  that  very  topknot  he 


508  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

charmed  an  whole  populace  into  peace  and 
plenty. " 

"  Jes'  de  same  girl.  Cain'  change  her  with 
any  foreign  voyages,"  Pam  concluded.  "  If  dat's 
all  de  fun  yose  to  make  I'll  be  movin'  on;"  and 
he  turned  to  go. 

But  there  was  more  coming.  Big  had  been 
thinking  how  to  get  even.  Without  removing  the 
topknot,  he  bent  over  a  pile  of  freshly  mown 
lawn-rakings  by  the  steps. 

"  Oh,  the  odor  of  this  is  good!  "  he  said,  seri 
ously.  "  There's  nothing  so  fresh  and  sweet  in 
Bar." 

11  No,  that's  true,  Big,"  she  returned,  stepping 
toward  him,  and  over  her  head  descended  a  cloud 
of  green,  while  she  spluttered. 

"  Miss  Ellen,"  said  Pam,  as  she  was  picking 
the  ticklish  green  spears  out  of  her  hair  and  ears, 
"  did  yo'  evah  heah  dat  air  oP  saw  'bout  dem 
dat  laughs  las'?  Tee-hee!  "  and  he  went  as  fast 
as  his  legs  would  take  him  around  the  corner  of 
the  house. 

"  You're  perfectly  foolish!  "  said  Aunt  Julia. 

"  Perfectly!  "  agreed  Madame  Mother. 

Who  wouldn  't  be  after  two  years  in  the  tropics, 
on  a  sunny  afternoon  in  May  on  the  home 
porch? 

"  Ellen,  I  think  it  is  time  for  tea,"  Aunt  Julia 
added. 

While  she  went  to  fetch  it,  Big  settled  down  on 
the  steps,  as  he  had  when  he  returned  from  Wash 
ington,  while  Mother  Mother,  who  was  in  the 


BACK  TO  BOLTON  509 

same  armchair  she  occupied  then,  became  busi 
nesslike  at  once. 

"  Jimmy,  Mr.  Sweetser  has  been  very  busy  in 
your  behalf,  and  Mr.  Hobber  has,  too." 

"  How  happy  I  have  been  in  my  friends!  "  he 
rejoined.  "  They  do  everything  for  me." 

' '  Well,  they  say  you  have  only  to  say  the  word 
to  be  nominated  for  Governor.  The  party  is 
looking  for  a  man  without  a  string  to  him  in  order 
to  win.  Now " 

"I'm  going  to  think  that  over  and  talk  it  over 
with  Ellen  and  with  you,  in  due  time,"  he  said, 
patting  her  hand  affectionately. 

Ellen  appearing  in  the  doorway  overheard  him. 
She  became  very  quiet.  Little  was  said  as,  hap 
pily,  they  went  through  that  regular  afternoon 
function,  and  the  silence  enabled  them  to  over 
hear  a  conversation  between  the  East  and  the 
West  (via  Africa)  at  the  corner  of  the  house, 
which  seems  worth  repeating. 

"  I  'spect  'fo'  he  came  'way  dey  was  all  wearin' 
close,"  said  Pam. 

"  The  people  in  the  backwoods  not  yet,"  an 
swered  Benito.  "  They  wear  the  clothes  when 
they  go  to  the  market  and  to  the  church." 

"  Jes'  keep  one  cotton  shirt  fo'  Sunday  best, 
eh?  Close  is  de  great  civilizer.  Some  kind  er 
close  is  necessary  to  staht  with — jes'  a  pillow-case 
with  holes  in  it  fo'  de  arms  if  it's  hot.  An'  de 
mo'  civilization  dey  is  de  mo'  kinds  o'  close 
some  fo'ks  has,  an,'  de  mo'  patches  some  fo'ks 


510  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

has — but  dey  has  to  has  de  close  er  dey  ain't  civil 
ized  nohow.  Yis,  indeedy." 

The  silent  Benito  only  looked  at  his  patent- 
leather  shoes  in  rapture. 

"  I  'spect  dat  aftah  yo'  Oryental  grandeur  an' 
him  bein'  an  Excellency  dis  yeah  house  don'  seem 
much  to  yo'?  " 

"It  is  the  home  of  His  Bigness,"  returned 
Benito.  That  was  enough  for  him.  A  person 
ality,  not  a  principle,  had  impressed  itself  on  his 
Oriental  mind.  Nor  would  he  consider  "  Father 
of  the  Tongals  "  or  any  other  name  in  place  of 
that  which  he  had  given  his  patron. 

"  Lemme  tell  yo',  an'  Ise  an'  oP  man  an'  has 
had  'sperience,"  Pam  continued,  "  dat  all  de  big 
men  in  dis  country  comes  from  de  li'l  houses  jes' 
like  dis  yeah.  Yis,  indeedy.  An'  dey  has  moth 
ers  dat,  when  dey  wants  to  do  dis  an'  dat,  says 
yo'  cain't,  kase  it  ain'  good  fo'  yo'  karocter.  An' 
aftah  de  closes  an'  aftah  Miss  Ellen  an'  de  abc's 
how  did  Mistah  Big  win  out  in  dis  yeah  job?  ' 

"  With  these;"  and  Benito  pointed  to  his  fore 
head,  his  eyes,  and  his  heart.  "He  go  to  the 
people  when  they  get  the  wrong  idea  and  he  talk 
to  them  till  they  get  the  right  idea,  and  he  never 
change — never!  " 

i  '  Dat  air  jes '  like  him.  He  was  allus  makin'  up 
de  quarrels  'tween  de  boys  when  he  was  a  li'l 
fellow  an'  all  de  boys  used  to  be  roun'  our  gate. 
But  'twan'  so  easy  as  all  dat  out  in  dat  Ian'. 
Didn'  he  evah  have  to  use  de  spankin'  machine!  " 

"  I  do  not  know  what  that  English  means." 


BACK  TO  BOLTON  511 

Pam  explained  arduously. 

"  He  can  fight,  yes,  he  can  fight  like  the  thirty 
cents  "  (this  slang  of  the  day  Benito  had  heard 
on  the  train)  "  and  then  it  is  better  for  to  take 
the  steamer  to  Spain." 

"  Yes,  same  ol'  Mistah  Big.  I  'membah  how  he 
had  two  er  free  breshes  when  he  was  a  li'l  shaver 
— an'  dey  wan'  no  'count  breshes  neither  when 
he  got  to  gwine.  Yo'  'spec'  to  stay  with  him  all 
de  time?  " 

t '  All  my  life !  ' '  which  is  not  such  a  long  time  in 
that  old  East  lately  discovered  by  the  young  West. 

"  Yo'  seem  purty  confident  o'  yo'se'f,"  Pam 
returned.  "  How  yo'  know  yo'  is?  ' 

"  The  kindness  of  the  great  heart  of  His  Big 
ness  would  not  let  him  send  me  away,"  Benito 
answered. 

"  Yo'  shuah  is  a  bright  boy  an'  ain'  lettin'  yo' 
slices  drop  buttah  side  down,"  Pam  concluded. 

The  two  old  ladies  smiled,  while  Big,  blushing  a 
little  over  being  the  subject  of  such  candid  analy 
sis,  looked  away  at  the  hills  and  thought  of  Ellen. 
Both  were  calling  him.  Tea  over,  he  turned  to  her. 

"  Shall  it  be  a  tramp?  "  he  asked. 

"  As  far  as  you  like,"  she  answered. 

"  Your  hair  is  too  high,"  he  remarked,  as  she 
took  down  her  hat  from  the  rack. 

"  Not  for  walking,"  she  answered,  softly. 

Now  the  winning  impulse  was  strong  in  him  as 
they  started  toward  the  big  tree  when  there  was 
not  the  slightest  sign  of  a  storm.  Of  all  his  ses- 


512  THE  BIG  FELLOW 

sions  of  talk-it-over-together,  this  was  the  great 
est  of  his  life;  and  the  speaking  part  was  his, 
the  listening  part  hers.  She  heard  such  eloquence 
as  no  one  else  was  ever  to  hear  from  him  in  all 
his  career. 

Is  it  our  affair  what  he  said!  Let  it  suffice 
that,  as  the  two  old  ladies  saw  them  returning, 
Aunt  Julia  declared  that  he  was  none  too  good 
for  Ellen,  to  which  Madame  Mother  responded 
that  she  only  hoped  he  was  good  enough.  They 
knew  what  had  happened  from  the  subjective  ela 
tion  of  the  pair  as  they  entered;  for  in  an  open 
country  you  can  see  that  roads  are  coming  to  a 
head  before  you  reach  their  meeting-place. 

"  It's  all  right,  Jimmy!  "  asked  Madame 
Mother,  after  Ellen  had  gone  upstairs. 

"  It's "  but,  the  dictionary  carried  nothing 

in  its  stock  equal  to  the  occasion.  He  would  not 
try  for  a  word,  and  Madame  Mother  saw  that 
none  was  needed. 

"  You  look  it,  well  enough,  Jimmy,''  she  re 
marked,  knowingly. 

1 '  Perfectly  foolish !  ' '  said  Aunt  Julia,  half  hys 
terically. 

When  Ellen  reappeared  she  wore  her  hair  in 
two  braids,  "  just  this  once,  in  honor  of  Mister 
Ninety  in  Calculus,"  as  she  told  him,  with  a  touch 
of  shyness. 

"  Oh,  Ellen,  it  doesn't  seem  as  if  I  deserve  all 

this  happiness.  I ''  and  there  he  was,  man  of 

the  law,  still  unable  to  express  himself.  But  he 
found  speech  at  the  table,  in  buoyancy  and  in  boy- 


BACK  TO  BOLTON  518 

ishness,  while  Benito,  slipping  in  at  the  door, 
helped  Pam  to  wear  out  the  silver  by  overpolish- 
ing  it. 

"  Exhibit  A  was  a  wonderful  school,  wasn't 
it!  "  he  said,  looking  into  Ellen's  eyes,  as,  in 
truth,  he  was  most  of  the  time.  "  Oh,  we  who 
have  been  in  Bar  have  something  we  would  not 
lose,  would  we!  ' 

It  was  a  quiet  evening,  brimming  with  the 
happiness  of  promise  fulfilled  for  all,  without 
as  yet  any  direct  mention  of  this  great  thing  come 
true,  as  Madame  Mother  and  Aunt  Julia  sat  on 
the  porch  watching  the  twilight  pass  and  the  fire 
flies  come  and  Big  and  Ellen  walked  up  and  down 
the  path  making  their  plans.  Again,  is  it  our  af 
fair  what  they  said!  A  new  and  permanent  part 
nership  they  had  formed.  Together,  through  life, 
they  would  look  out  along  the  straight  line's  way, 
which  may  be  hard  traveling  at  first,  but  is  the 
pleasanter  the  farther  you  go. 


THE  END 


GOOD      FICTION 


FREDERICK    PALMER'S     THE    BIG    FELLOW 

A  big  American  novel  with  a  big  American  for  its  hero,  one  of  the 
fine,  simple,  magnetic  big  stories  that  everybody  reads  and  that 
live  for  years.  Illustrated.  $1.50. 


PH1LLPOTTS  and  BENNETT'S     THE    STATUE 

Scene,  England.  Period,  to-day.  A  fine  specimen  of  the  diplomatic 
novel,  big  in  conception,  powerful  in  plot  and  action,  vigorously 
drawn.  Illustrated.  $1.50. 


TYLER  de  SAIX'S 

THE   MAN   WITHOUT  A  HEAD 

One  of  the  most  exciting  detective  stories  since  "Sherlock  Holmes." 
Scene  is  London,  hero  a  new  Scotland  Yard  man  who  has  to 
"  make  good,"  and  does  it.  $1.50. 


E.J.RATITS  THE  SIXTH  SPFED 

"  Just  an  amazing  yarn,  set  forth  with  so  much  vim  and  in  so  confi 
dent  a  vein  that,  though  not  really  plausible,  it  is  richly  amusing." 
—New  York  Times.  $1.50. 


JAMES   LOCKE'S 

THE  STEM  of  the  CRIMSON  DAHLIA 

"  One  doesn't  put  it  down  after  beginning  it  even  though  you  know 
you  must  get  up  early  to-morrow  and  it  is  now  two  o'clock."— 
New  York  Times  Saturday  Review.  Illustrated.  $1.50. 


UPTON  SINCLAIR'S         THE  METROPOLIS 

H.  G.  Wells  writes  of  it :  "'  The  Metropolis '  is  great.      The  author 

has  all  Zola's  power  over  massed  detail." 
11  It  stands  in  a  class  by  itself.    It  is  a  searchlight. "-San  Francisco 

Examiner. 


GOOD      FICTION 


EDWARD  PEPLE'S  THE    SPITFIRE 

A  story  of  vim  and  dash.  Romantic,  exciting  to  a  high  degree. 
Color  frontispiece  by  Howard  Chandler  Christy.  Other  draw 
ings  by  J.  V.  McFall.  xamo,  $1.50. 

SEMIRAMIS 

"At  once  a  majestic  and  an  animated  tale.  It  has  imagination.  It 
has  imagination  and  rhetoric,  It  has  much.  It  will  stir  the 
reader."— New  York  Sun.  i2mo.  $1.50. 


CYRUS  TOWNSEND  BRADY'S 

The  ADVENTURES  of  LADY  SUSAN 

One  of  Dr.  Brady's  liveliest  and  most  adventurous  tales.  Period, 
War  of  i8ia  ;  scene,  England  ;  heroine,  American.  Illustrated. 
$1.50. 

The  BLUE  OCEAN'S  DAUGHTER 

"Told  in  gallant  fashion  with  the  fresh  air  blowing  through  it."- 
Chicago  Evening  Post.    Illustrated.    $1.50. 


BRADY  and   PEPLE'S 

RICHARD  THE  BRAZEN 

"  Sparkles  with  the  audacity  of  youth."— Brooklyn  Eagle. 

"  Fat  with  the  material  of  which  thrills  are  made,  and  warranted  to 

be  finished  at  one  sitting."— St.  Paul  Pioneer  Press.   Illustrated. 

$1.50. 


WILLIAM    FREDERIC   DIX'S 

THE  LOST  PRINCESS 

This  fine  novel  of  adventure  fairly  overflows  with  romance,  but  its 
atmosphere  nevertheless  is  intensely  modern.  Illustrated  in 
colors.  $1.50. 


KAUFMAN  and  FISK'S 

THE  STOLEN  THRONE 

Has  enough  dash,  action,  and  high-spirited  romance  to  furnish  forth 
half  a  dozen  "  season's  successes."  Brilliantly  written.  Illus 
trated.  $1.50. 


GOOD      FICTION 


EDEN   PHILLPOTTS'S 

THE  VIRGIN   IN   JUDGMENT 

Mr.  Phillpotts  never  wrote  a  finer,  sounder  novel  of  Dartmoor  than 
this.    It  has  characters  that  will  live  long.     iamo.    $1.50. 


J.  C.  SNAITH'S 

WILLIAM  JORDAN,  JUNIOR 

"The  most  moving  and  fascinating  piece  of  work  the  author  of 
'Broke  of  Covenden'  has  yet  given  us."— Contemporary  Review 
(London).  $1.50. 

JOHN  TREVENA-S         FURZE  THE  CRUEL 

"  It  is  always  difficult  to  define  what  constitutes  greatness  in  any 
form  of  art,  but  when  greatness  exists  it  is  easy  to  discern. 
This  is  a  great  book — almost  a  masterpiece." — London  Academy. 
$1.50.  

ELIZABETH   ROBINS'S 

THE  MILLS  OF  THE  GODS 

One  of  Miss  Robins's  most  finished  and  brilliant  stories.  Its  flavor 
is  almost  medieval  in  quality,  though  the  period  is  to-day.  A 
superbly  artistic  story  of  Continental  life.  i2ino.  $1.00. 


ANNULET  ANDREWS'S 

THE  WIFE  OF   NARCISSUS 

"  A  stroke  of  genius."— Hartford  Courant. 

"  Instinct  with  spring-like  romance."  —  Chicago  Record-Herald. 
nmo.  $1.50. 

ELEANOR   TALBOT   KINKEAD'S 

THE   INVISIBLE  BOND 

"  Rises  to  fine  heights  and  is  inspired  by  fine  ideals."— New  York 
Tribune, 

"  A  gripping,  brainy  story,  revealing  an  artist  in  literature  of  de 
cided  promise."— Boston  Herald,  Illustrated.  $1.50. 


The  COURAGE  of  BLACKBURN   BLAIR 

"The  characterization  is  markedly  good,  various  men  and  women 
standing  out  like  clear  portraits.  Best  of  all,  perhaps,  the  whole 
exhales  a  subtle  aroma  of  delicate  romance  and  passion."— 
Chicago  Record-Herald,  iamo.  $1.50. 


GOOD      FICTION 


ANONYMOUS  SAPPHO   IN   BOSTON 

A  dainty  and  brilliant  novel  by  a  writer  of  long  experience.    Scene, 
Boston  and  England.    Period,  to-day.    Illustrated.    $1.50. 


JOHN    LUTHER    LONG'S  FELICE 

Mr.  Long  has  never  written  a  more  charming  story  than  this  tale  of 
Italian  life  in  Philadelphia.     Illustrated  in  colors.    $i.co. 


THOMAS    L.    MASSON'S 

THE  YON   BLUMERS 

A  sparkling  picture  of  American  life  in  the  suburbs  of  New  York, 
full  of  insight  and  penetrating,  unostentatious  humor.  Illus 
trated  by  Bayard  Jones.  $1.50. 


ROBERT   HAVEN    SCHAUFFLER'S 

WHERE  SPEECH   ENDS 

A  novel  of  the  orchestra  which  takes  the  reader  into  complete 
comradeship  with  the  men  who  interpret  the  world's  greatest 
music  in  the  world's  greatest  way.  $1.50. 


CONSTANCE   SMEDLEY'S       THE    DAUGHTER 

A  vigorous,  likable  novel  of  the  modern  suffrage  movement  in 
England.  Has  an  extremely  interesting  plot,  and  moves  rapidly 
from  the  start.  lamo.  $1.50. 

CONFLICT 

An  unusually  strong  and  fascinating  story  of  English  life  in  some 
of  its  most  up-to-date  phases.  Depicts  a  modern  business 
woman  in  a  modern  environment.  $1.50. 


ALICE   McALILLY'S 

THE   LARKINS  WEDDING 

"An  apotheosis  of   good  humor  and  neighborly  kindness."—  The 
Outlook.    24  illustrations.    $1.00. 

MOFFAT,  YARD  C&  COMPANY 
NEW    YORK 


TINT" 


-—• -_  ^'    7.070  / 


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